


Welkin

by Shivani



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dimension Travel, Do-Over, Family, Gen, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-22 15:05:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 122,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6084228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shivani/pseuds/Shivani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not all of Byakuran’s powers were sealed, and not every guardian always saves his boss. Tsuna is given a second chance, with different circumstances, of course, and gains more than just two new friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01: 2005

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings** : Hints of slash, canon mangling, time skips, vague crack
> 
>  **Beta** : —
> 
>  **Disclaimer** : This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Amano Akira, Weekly Shōnen Jump, and Viz Media. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Notes** :
> 
>  **0**. This story is completely written and is now in the posting phase. Also, I would like to give [Shadowblayze](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowblayze/pseuds/Shadowblayze) a shout-out for patiently listening to me babble in PMs. Shout-out to Gotye’s _[Dig Your Own Hole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZdq7mDpJSk)_ (I am so in love with that song) in chapter five (though it might come up earlier, too). Again to [Shadowblayze](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowblayze/pseuds/Shadowblayze) for PMs regarding the Varia Arc for ideas and suggestions regarding battle tactics and the odd Lussuria line.
> 
>  **1**. The usual honorifics are left out depending on who is involved and what country Tsuna is in at any given time.
> 
>  **2**. I perverted the Sky Mare Ring’s abilities. The calendar I’m using was taken from Hisui (with appropriate alterations) so I didn’t have to recreate one from scratch. As usual, the content of the story drunkenly rambles along while still managing to touch on specific points I wanted to include. After all, my idea of an outline is a vague list of thoughts.
> 
>  **3**. Tsuna-centric, but not entirely Tsuna’s POV. Other people get the focus where I think it was necessary, because some stories actually do need that insight. Some people are OOC (to my understanding, considering how some of them acted in manga chapters), but there’s also some causality involved.
> 
>  **4**. I do something in this I’ve flirted with already, but didn’t follow through on. I do things in this story that I expect will cause complaints to roll in (and which I will more than likely ignore).
> 
>  **5**. I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with cooking. A recipe name was scavenged off Mr Internet.
> 
>  **6**. I seem to have a definite bias for a particular character. Sigh. And companions don’t get a lot of screen time. Chapter ten is especially jumpy.
> 
>  **7**. TO ANYONE RE-READING: As of 22 March 2016 I replaced (after it being pointed out I was using the wrong translations) "Misuto" with "Kiri" and "Raitoningu" with "Kaminari". This affects chapters five through ten.

“I’m not omniscient!” he heard Byakuran snarl. “I can’t tell the future, only what has happened, and at that my powers have been vastly diminished. Thanks to all of _you_ , remember. It was not I who failed and let Tsuna be shot—that was you people.”

The guardians all went red or otherwise showed their deep and abiding sense of guilt and shame at their failure to protect their boss and friend.

He felt warm breath at his ear, and Byakuran’s quiet whisper. “Have you ever thought about what you’d do if you could live it all again? Maybe with some changes? What choices you would make?”

“Yes,” he breathed.

Byakuran nodded so slightly it almost didn't happen. “I see. I will see.”

Then it all went black.

When he woke up he was in an entirely unfamiliar place. The only thing of note in the room he was in was something that resembled a shrine, though there was no picture of a deceased with the usual accompaniments. Instead, there was a display with three keys on it. He saw eight doors, though only one of them was shōji. The other seven were all western-style doors. It was about then that he realized his body was far too small and his hands were soft and a little chubby.

“What the hell?” he murmured as he got up from his prone position. He randomly went to the shōji door and slid it open to reveal a hallway, and looked around. Directly across was another shōji door, which he opened. Behind it looked to be a living room. One end of the hall had a front door, but it was locked. Down the hall was a kitchen, and a peek inside the refrigerator revealed only bottled water and juices. The cupboards held various things and the pantry had a few staples and a selection of fruit for some reason, but overall the room was not outfitted for a stay of any length—more like a short visit, really.

Upstairs was a library, a bedroom, and a bathroom with the usual shower, soaking bath, and sectioned-off toilet. More importantly, there was a mirror. Tsuna gawked as he took in his appearance; he looked like a two year old. He was also wearing a pacifier. “What did you do to me, Byakuran!” he shrieked, then blushed as he realized just how silly he sounded. He had never really thought about it before, how incongruous Arcobaleno voices were (Reborn was the obvious exception). Colonnello sounded like a grown man, even in chibi form.

“How the hell am I the Sky Arcobaleno?” he muttered. “What about Luce or Aria? And where the hell am I? Wait, that library—maybe it has something that would help?”

He wandered out of the bathroom and back to the library so he could start rummaging through the rich offerings available. Unfortunately, most of the books contained history, or essays on the working of flames. There was nothing in particular that he could see which would explain where he was or why he was there. He had only his assumption that it had something to do with his changed circumstances. With a heavy sigh he returned to the kitchen to have some juice and an apple and, feeling very tired, he briefly visited the bathroom, then took advantage of the bed.

Reborn looked away and left the room as Aria approached Luce. It wasn’t his place to be there during the transfer, and besides, he was losing someone he cared about deeply. It was not that he disliked Aria; she just wasn’t Luce. Out of all the Skies he had met, Luce was the closest to being one who could have tempted him to accept harmonization. But she was the boss of Giglio Nero and already had guardians. She didn’t need him, hadn’t needed him, but she accepted him and the others anyway.

He was startled from his morbid thoughts when Aria rushed out into the hall, her eyes wide and her mouth a grim slash. “What?” he said dully, then noticed it. “Where is it? Why aren’t you wearing it?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “It’s not like I _wanted_ to be the one, but… If not me, who?”

Reborn pushed away from the wall and tilted his hat back. It still vexed him at times that he always had to look up at people. “Good question,” he muttered. “Aria… I’m—”

“Don’t,” she interrupted. “I know, Uncle. Do you think you can find whoever it is?”

“I’m not the World’s Greatest for nothing,” he said, even though he knew it would be next to impossible to figure it out. They might all be connected by the pacifiers, but they were not otherwise connected by true bonds, not like guardians to a Sky normally were. Luce had never spoken much about her powers as the Sky Arcobaleno; maybe they weren’t supposed to share. If the new Sky decided to stay out of sight…

“They were probably totally unprepared for this,” she said anxiously. “What if they’re scared? How old are they? Whoever it is could be clear on the other side of the world.”

He could let her keep rambling about the mystery, but he figured she was doing it as a way to avoid breaking down in grief, and that wasn’t especially healthy. He was saved from having to say anything by Gamma appearing, so he slipped away. ‘Who are you?’ he asked. ‘What will you be like? Are you alone? Frightened? Bitter? Angry? Where are you? Will you—’ He shook his head; he could not afford to think like that.

When he woke again it was to the realization that he was not alone. A quiet rustling sound by his ear caused him to warily open his eyes and slowly turn his head. Curled up on the pillow next to him was a bat, which squeaked when it noticed his attention. Tsuna was flabbergasted to realize after a moment that he could understand the little creature, and it had just told him it was his animal companion.

‘That’s right, all the Arcobaleno I knew had one,’ he thought. ‘Well, not Aria or Yuni that I remember, but all the others did. So does that mean…’ “What should I call you? And what kind of bat are you?”

The bat rustled its wings in a shrug of sorts. “I’m a type of fruit bat,” it replied. “As for a name, you can choose one. I don’t mind.”

“Fruit…” After some thought he said, “Quince?”

The bat shrugged again. “Sounds fine. Now—”

“Are you—” Tsuna went silent when the bat squinted its eyes at him in a glare.

“I’m male,” Quince said testily, “and it’s rude to interrupt. As I was saying, you’re something of a special case. Normally the Sky Arcobaleno stays within a certain bloodline, but in this case the strength and purity of your flames was deemed greater than that of the other candidate, so you were chosen.”

Checker Face had threatened to make him the next Sky Arcobaleno at the conclusion of the Representative Battle of the Rainbow, so that wasn’t outside reason.

“You have a choice,” Quince continued. “You can accept chibi form and live a much longer life, or you can age normally and die early.”

‘But I already know how to break the curse,’ he thought, ‘so does it really matter? How old am—’ “Okay. You don’t happen to know what the date is, do you?”

“October of 2005, your birthday, actually.”

“So I’m five… Which means—” He wondered if his companion could or would pass on information to Kawahira, actually. Could he afford to let Quince in on the full truth of his situation, or…? He also remembered that Bermuda was convinced that Checker Face could spy on them through the pacifiers, so… Or was that the watches? “The front door is locked.”

“Yes. You needed time to adjust. You also need to learn more about being an Arcobaleno.”

“The library doesn’t have much of interest, though,” he protested softly.

Quince let out a tiny snort. “But there is a place here that does, back where you first woke up.”

He nodded and sat up, only then realizing how hungry he was. It made him wonder if his mother was freaking out over him not having gone home yet. After a breakfast of juice and more fruit—he was amused to see just how much Quince enjoyed sharing that meal—he tidied up and returned to the shrine room, paying more attention than the previous time.

The seven doors had subtle engravings on them, and for the most part they aligned to a type of flame. The only one that confused him was the seventh, which would have to be Sky, because the symbol was a simple circle. Since he was a Sky he tried opening that one first, and went inside to see a series of small portraits lining the walls. ‘Past Sky Arcobaleno?’ he wondered. ‘Is this some kind of memorial? Why would Kawahira do this? I mean, I guess he kinda felt bad about having to sacrifice people for the Tri-ni-set, but…’

The most recent portrait was of Luce, but he could already see a spot for himself, though the image itself was blurry, as if it was trying to resolve itself. ‘And why _am_ I in chibi form, anyway? Aren’t Skies supposed to age normally and die earlier, all so they have a chance to reproduce or something? Am I able to change forms at will?’

Quince fluttered over to a shelf and pointedly tapped a claw.

The material there reiterated what Quince had said regarding the choice, but also answered his question about the form change. If he really wanted to he could switch back and forth, but every time he did it he would cut his life that much shorter. His connection to Quince afforded him certain advantages. Quince could alter his size, such that he could fly Tsuna places, much like Fantasma could for Mammon, or Colonnello’s Falco. Of course, he could fly on his own, assuming he could learn to emit flames from his hands without a set of gloves.

But he had a power similar to Quince’s power of echolocation. Being an Egyptian fruit bat was the only reason Quince could do it at all, but it was telling in that he had to make a clicking sound. Tsuna did not, but he was seeing in infrared, ghost images of heat signatures. Total darkness could be turned to his advantage, using one or both methods. After working his way through the materials on the shelf he returned to the main room and eyed the other doors. All of them were locked when he checked them.

“Any hints?” he directed at Quince, who was hanging from one of the beams overhead.

“You get to figure this out on your own.”

He sighed and looked at the shrine. ‘Three keys, but six locked doors. Eh…’ He grabbed the rightmost one and heard two faint clunks. He returned to the Sky door and found it was locked; he also realized that none of the knobs had keyholes. He tried the next door to the left, the Sun door, and it opened for him. ‘Why that one?’ he wondered before entering.

The most recent portrait was of Reborn. “Oh, wow,” he whispered, “this has his real name on it. But I can find each of them once I figure out how to activate a bond with them.” He turned around and went back to the shrine, hoping that replacing the key would unlock the Sky room again. He heard the same two clunks, and sure enough, the Sky door opened for him.

Tsuna grabbed one of the books and reread it, just to be sure he was remembering what it said correctly. ‘This sucks. The only way I can think of to “accept” the other flames is … by resolving my feelings for my previous guardians? I guess?’ He shoved the book back on the shelf and sighed. To put off having to even think about that he started messing around with the keys. Each time he removed one he would hear two clunks.

All three keys in place opened the seventh door, the Sky door. Picking up all three keys, however, only granted him a single clunk, which confused him. What other door was there? After a moment he face-palmed and sighed, then went to check the front door; it opened easily. ‘What to do? What to do?’ he wondered. ‘I should probably go home for a bit.’

On that thought he tucked the keys into his pocket and stepped outside. A quick investigation oriented him and he was off. When he entered his house his mother was in the kitchen, humming as she prepared lunch. ‘Did she even notice I was gone?’

“Tsu-kun,” she chirped. “Go wash up, okay? Lunch will be ready shortly.”

He sighed and headed to his room to get fresh clothing, then went to take a shower, being careful to transfer the keys to a pocket in his new outfit. His mother didn’t even seem to notice that he was younger as he climbed up onto a seat. ‘Still,’ he thought, ‘that will be helpful. And if I’m being honest with myself, I was never all that nice to her. I took advantage of her even after Reborn showed up and started trying to bully me into being a proper mafia boss. But that’s not something I can ever explain, so what can I do differently this time?’

He smiled and thanked his mother when she set food in front of him, and tucked in. Quince was blending in with his hair, and even if his mother noticed the little guy, she might not have bothered to say anything. Perhaps he could ask his mother to teach him how to cook? Looking back, it bothered him that not only had Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan been switched out with their future selves, but had ended up relegated to cooking and cleaning up at the base. True, they had volunteered, but what else had they to do with their time while essentially being confined to an underground complex?

It was also true that he and the others were busy being trained to within an inch of their lives and did not have time to deal with the mundane realities of life, but he doubted that any of them had been appreciative enough of the girls’ efforts. There was a lot he hadn’t been properly appreciative of.

He gave his mother a slightly distracted thank you at the end of lunch and wandered off to the park to think. He hadn’t been there for very long when he was approached by a pre-teen with white hair and a purple mark under his eye. The boy sat down and gave him a guileless smile, then offered him a bag of marshmallows. “Want one, Tsu-kun?”

“What exactly did you do?” he asked as he grabbed a handful.

“Not I,” Byakuran demurred. “After all, I am the me who belongs in this dimension. Rather say, what did my counterpart do?”

Tsuna rolled his eyes and popped a marshmallow in his mouth.

“That wound was fatal, and you seemed to be open to the possibilities, so…”

“Fatal,” he repeated. “But the power of your Mare Ring…”

“Greatly diminished,” Byakuran chirped, “not negated! So, he sent your soul here, your memories. He also sent some to me, and one other person.”

“Please tell me it wasn’t Reborn, because I don’t think I can handle his Spartan training at this age.”

Byakuran shook his head, making his hair flutter around distractingly. “Anyway, there’s no reason why you can’t start training your powers.”

“At five years old?”

“Why not? The sooner you start, the sooner you can protect yourself. Or did you forget about those assassins who kept showing up? Besides, you’re an Arcobaleno now. It’d be downright silly if you didn’t start immediately. It’s not like you have to have a ring to use your flames, though having one helps. And in your case, the pacifier acts as one, so you’ll get used to a different mindset anyway.”

He nodded and ate another marshmallow. “Eh… Are you just visiting or…? Don’t you have a famiglia to inherit in Italy?”

His new “friend” just laughed happily. “I can live wherever I want, Tsu-kun! It’s one of the benefits of being ridiculously wealthy. If I ‘argued’ for a secondary base in Japan of course I’d get what I wanted.”

He rolled his eyes again and wondered why he was being so accepting. He had obviously gone insane at some point. Either that or the Byakuran of his dimension had skipped a few bits during the transfer.

“But no, I haven’t moved here. I’m just visiting for the time being.”

They were half way through the bag when another person showed up. Tsuna did a double-take on seeing pineapple hair, but the person in question was much too old to be Mukuro. That meant—“Oh my,” he whispered.

Byakuran giggled. “That’s right! Aren’t you pleased, Tsu-kun? Your two greatest enemies are now your friends!”

Daemon Spade took a seat and shoved his hand into the bag.

“Do I even want to know whose body you hijacked?” Tsuna asked dryly.

Daemon smirked at him. “No one you know. But I thought, once those memories flooded in, I’d come see you, stick around, maybe incite a little mayhem. After all, I do have some interest in whoever it is who ends up as Decimo.”

He frowned. “Wait a minute. I can’t be both, can I?”

“Hm?” Byakuran shoved another marshmallow into his mouth.

“The pacifiers are one part of the Tri-ni-set. I can’t be an Arcobaleno and also carry the burden of the Vongola Sky Ring, right? I don’t have to be Decimo?”

Daemon arched a brow at him, then shifted his gaze to the side briefly. “I think you’re remembering that explanation wrongly. And are you forgetting that Nono’s sons are still alive right now?”

“Oh, right,” he said, feeling relieved. He was in an alternate dimension, so it was entirely possible that one of those three would survive and he would remain out of the running.

Byakuran laughed happily and aimed a somewhat frightening look his way. “I think we should stuff that brain of yours full of knowledge.”

He shrank back for a moment out of reflex, then realized he was not actually adverse to learning. ‘What the hell?’ he wondered.

Daemon snorted. “You haven’t had your flames sealed,” he drawled.

“Damn it, don’t read my thoughts!” he complained.

“I wasn’t. It was plain as day in your expression,” Daemon protested. “You have the mind of an adult and free-flowing flames in a body where they were never sealed. Do you have any idea just what kind of complications sealing a person’s flames can produce?”

“So you’re saying all my incompetence and general lack of anything resembling a brain was caused by Nono trying to keep me out of the mafia?”

Daemon nodded. “It was done back in the day, for much the same reasons. Every last one of those kids ended up klutzy and scatterbrained at best. I won’t even go into worst cases. For that reason, the method was expunged from the Vongola records as the process was deemed too detrimental to the subjects. Nono obviously figured out how to do it on his own, which was pretty clever of him.”

“So Enma really was that, uh…”

“Yeah,” Daemon said. “Gifted with his flames, but still a magnet for bullies. Granted, the fact that I brutally murdered his parents and sister had to have messed up his head. But I didn’t do that this time. Wait, I won’t do that this time, I mean; it happened in 2009.” He glanced at Byakuran and said, “This is mildly confusing.”

Byakuran shrugged. “Being somewhat insane, I just find it amusing. But that brings up a good point. Tsu-kun’s flames cannot be sealed again by a well-meaning but ultimately irresponsible old man.”

‘Irresponsible?’ he thought.

“Yes, irresponsible,” Daemon said. “He had no real idea of the potential ramifications of his actions, yet he did it anyway. It was an experimental procedure, and he used it one of his own family members, his own blood. Did he ever apologize?”

“Well, now that you mention it, no,” he admitted. “And now that I think about it, I’ve already noticed differences. I’m not tripping over my own feet all the time and I don’t feel like nothing really matters. Before it was like … what was the point in bothering to try? And then the kids in school went from making fun of my clumsiness to outright bullying me. It’s not like I remember everything clearly, but I know I wasn’t bullied from the start. I never made the connection with that visit from Nono, but why would I have?”

Daemon nodded. “Well, unfortunately, despite having been around for ages, I don’t know as much about Arcobaleno as I might like, so a lot of it you’ll have to figure out personally. But that doesn’t mean we can’t help you with making sure you actually learn the normal things, and even help you train with your flames.”

He stuffed another marshmallow in his mouth and pondered the wisdom of telling them about that house he had woken up in. Something told him it was not the best idea; Kawahira would probably not appreciate that someone other than an Arcobaleno had gone inside, after all. The Arcobaleno probably had some code of conduct they never shared with outsiders. And for all he knew, they gathered every so often and threw wild parties. A funny little chortling-chirping sound came from his hair, making him wonder if Quince could read his thoughts.

Byakuran stopped mid-chew and aimed a curious look at him, so Tsuna said, “That’s Quince you heard, my companion.”

“Quince? Not Quincy?” Daemon asked.

He shook his head. “He’s a fruit bat, so…”

Byakuran grinned. “How adorable! And he blends into your hair so well. Speaking of which, is it darker than it used to be? Your eyes are definitely different.”

“Huh?”

Daemon snorted softly. “You didn’t even look in a mirror?”

“I did,” he protested, “but I was more interested in gawking at my size. What happened to my eyes?”

“They’re a really pretty amber colour, with darker rings,” Byakuran said. “There’s nothing wrong with brown, I suppose, but now they match your flames.”

He nodded, intending to check later on. After heaving a sigh he said, “How do you want to go about training?”

“Well,” Byakuran said, “you’re kind of stuck with that whole school thing down the road, so it’ll have to be in the afternoon after that actually starts. Not every day, though. And I can’t be here all the time, anyway, so I bought you a phone!” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a cell phone to hand over.

“What?” he said, automatically accepting the thing.

“A phone,” Byakuran said slowly. “You use them to communicate. Also, I’m giving you an account with seed money in it. You probably aren’t aware of this, but we Skies tend to have that whole intuition thing going for us, and that means we can make an absolute killing in the stock market. So, I expect you to get right on that.”

Tsuna blinked a few times. By the time he went home for dinner his brain had been stuffed full of plans and he knew the upcoming weeks and even months would be … interesting. But at least his two “friends” wouldn’t expect him to start until November, so he had some time to adjust. He also had the nagging feeling he had forgotten something very important, but could not put his finger on it.

The next day he returned to the Arcobaleno house and entered the shrine room. He stared at the display and fingered the three keys he had taken from it, then set a notepad and pencil down so he could make notes.

All three keys in place opened the seventh door. The sixth door opened when the rightmost key was removed. Those were already written down, along with none being the combination for the front door. He methodically created combinations and tested doors until he knew exactly how to trigger the lock he wanted. ‘But which one do I want to connect to first?’ he asked himself. Even now, Reborn scared him a little, even if he thought his Reborn would never truly hurt him. The man hadn’t wanted him dead, just bearing a spine and pride and drive and … all the things Nono had stolen from him.

He closed his eyes and sighed. “I can’t deal with Reborn right now; I need to find my own confidence instead of using Reborn as my backbone. So … I’ll go for the opposite, then. I’ll go for the little guy.” He laughed humorlessly at his joke and unlocked the Cloud room. He took a seat inside, gazing without really seeing at the picture of Skull, and started giving some serious thought to both Hibari and Skull.

Hibari had always scared him. He respected Kyoya’s power, his frightening competence in a fight, and his unyielding nature, but he had still been scared of him. He had never felt any kind of a real connection to Hibari, even as they got older and he moved properly into the role of Vongola Decimo. Hibari had done what he damn well pleased, and if his interests happened to coincide with Tsuna’s, so be it. Tsuna had never felt he could entrust a task to Hibari if he knew that task did not in some way benefit the man or was not something Hibari would likely have done of his own volition.

In contrast, Skull seemed to be the Arcobaleno whipping boy. Reborn and Colonnello both treated him like a lackey or errand boy, and he had the impression they felt that way even prior to being cursed. Why? Because he was comparatively the weakest of the bunch? Verde didn’t often go on the offense, at least not personally, but perhaps his brains and scientific prowess made up for his lack of overt physical threat?

Skull and Hibari seemed like exact opposites. Hibari didn’t give a damn about approval or having friends and Skull seemed to just want someone to care. Based on what he knew of a Cloud’s role in a famiglia, Skull’s personality was at odds with his flames. Therefore, not every flame-user behaved in a manner consistent with the norm.

‘That’s great,’ he thought, fiddling with his pacifier, ‘but I’m not sure knowing that helps. I guess it’s true that I trusted Hibari-san to get a job done, but I never trusted that I could be the one assigning them, and I never really felt like he had much respect for me. I sometimes felt like I was just another challenge for him to overcome. Still, he did train me, even if he was horribly brutal about it, and I guess he wouldn’t have wasted his time if he thought I was hopeless.’

It was when he had to squint that he realized the pacifier he was idly messing with was glowing with increasing brightness. “Is this … it?”

Quince made that odd chortling sound again and said, “It indicates progress. Whatever you’re thinking is obviously working.”

He nodded and went back to considering his relationship with Hibari. The older version had trained him, so perhaps there _was_ some measure of respect there, even if he had never showed it in a way that Tsuna could easily understand. ‘I never really thought I could control Hibari, though, so at least I understood that much. Of course, if Nono hadn’t damaged me, I might have been able to understand any of this better before,’ he thought with a touch of bitterness. ‘The more I think about it the more upset I get. He’s directly responsible for my childhood being an unending torment. His intentions might have been good, but the results were horrible.’

His pacifier dimmed slightly and that prodded him into realizing that he was getting off track. ‘Clouds,’ he thought. ‘Aloof, drifting, solitary clouds. Except that clouds in the sky usually come in groups and are often quite fluffy.’ He laughed at the thought of Hibari being fluffy, though he did seem to have a serious soft spot for small animals. Maybe his relationship with any Cloud Guardian wasn’t about being able to give orders, but simply in being able to trust that they would look out for the interests of their Sky and famiglia, outward appearances to the contrary.

The pacifier took on a distinct purple tint in one segment, startling him back out of his thoughts. He grasped it with both hands and closed his eyes; almost immediately he got a sense of where Skull was, and could actually see him. The Cloud Arcobaleno suddenly stopped dead and looked around with jerky movements, as if he could tell he was being watched without being able to pinpoint a direction.

‘That would be one way to irritate Reborn from a distance,’ he thought in amusement, ‘though I expect he’d make me pay for it later.’

Skull darted off to the side, into cover, and kept scanning his surroundings. It allowed Tsuna to see that he was in a recognizable place. Venice, if he was not mistaken. He released the pacifier and opened his eyes. “No sense turning him into a paranoid wreck,” he muttered.

“So you found the Cloud Arcobaleno?” Quince asked.

“Yeah. I don’t have any idea how to get into contact with him, though. It’s not like the average five year old can hop on the plane at a moment’s notice,” he said, then thought, ‘But then Lambo-kun was never average.’

“Considering you look more like a two year old…”

Tsuna heaved a sigh. It also occurred to him that Quince had been listening in the entire time he had been talking with Byakuran and Daemon, so if his companion was going to betray him to Kawahira, he already had all the ammunition he needed. That being so, and remembering how Reborn, Colonnello, and Fon had been with their companions, he decided to simply trust that Quince wasn’t wired that way. “Well, I guess I could ask for help. But I can also experiment with this and see if there’s a way to send a message through.”

He got up and headed to the kitchen for some juice and remembered to grab the keys before taking a walk.

Over the next few days he checked in on Skull, waiting until the afternoon to do so because of the time difference. It was helpful that he realized he need not close his eyes; the image would seemingly project onto the wall, he just had to have the pacifier enclosed by a hand. When Thursday rolled around and he settled down to take a look, Skull not only immediately darted into cover, but brought out a piece of paper with a message on it. “Why are you spying on me?” it read in Italian.

Tsuna took a moment to thank Reborn for having beaten several languages into his head, but he still had no idea how to respond. As it was, he simply held the vision for another thirty seconds to see if Skull would add anything to the paper, then released the pacifier with a feeling of frustration.

On Saturday Skull was already sitting somewhere quiet, wasn’t wearing his helmet, and had a piece of paper ready, so he had obviously figured out the regularity of the odd contact. “I picked up a throwaway phone,” it read, followed by a number.

Tsuna frowned and debated as to how to respond. But if he never took the chance, how would he ever know? He fetched out the phone Byakuran had given him, awkwardly dialed one-handed, and held it to his ear, all while keeping the link open.

Skull answered almost immediately. “Ciao.”

“…Ciao,” he replied. “I’m sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. I didn’t know any other way to…”

“You are…?”

“You can call me … Welkin,” he said. “Sky Arcobaleno.”

Skull moved the phone away from his ear and stared at it disbelievingly, then brought it back to his ear. “Really?”

“Yes. I was experimenting with how to get to know the rest of you and, well, the only thing I seem to be able to do so far is peek in. I can’t even hear anything.”

“Who else have you contacted?”

“No one. You’re the first.”

Skull stared at his phone again for a second. “Oh. Wait… What—right, she’s gone, I guess.”

“Luce?”

“Did you know her?”

“I’m afraid I never met her, but I was made aware of who the former holder was.”

“Do you … understand? What’s happened to you?” Skull asked quietly.

“Yes, I do. Would you be willing to talk to me every so often? I don’t exactly have a lot of friends,” he said, making a face at the truth of that statement. He had Byakuran and Daemon, but they wouldn’t be with him all or even most of the time, and he was honestly worried about being able to relate to the kids he would end up going to school with.

If it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t want to worry his mother and also send half the Vongola into a screaming panic, he would have strongly considered just disappearing. But his mother had already been lied to and essentially abandoned by Iemitsu, so he couldn’t see himself doing the same thing, even if he would have to lie about his physical circumstances or do a lot of fast talking.

Skull remained silent for several heartbeats, then chirped, “Sure. I’m Skull, by the way. Where in Italy are you?”

“Italy?”

“…Yes. That’s where your phone number is based.”

“It is? Someone got the phone for me. I never actually looked at what number it had, or even thought about it. I can’t exactly travel under the circumstances, so maybe he did that to confuse people as to my whereabouts?”

Skull scratched his head. “How about this? Send me a text message if you want to talk, and if I’m not in the middle of something I’ll call. But if it’s going to be a while, I’ll send back a quick text to let you know.”

“That sounds fine. It’s one way to become familiar with each other. And hopefully at some point we could meet.”

He could see Skull nod before the Cloud said, “You said … you can’t exactly travel right now. Does that mean you’re, uh, small?”

“Yeah. I don’t look any older than you do. And there are other circumstances surrounding me that make it really difficult for me to just sneak away for a while.”

Skull’s expression twisted briefly. “Are you aware of—? I mean, if I said Omertà…”

“Then I would say that the Vindice are responsible for making us uphold it,” he replied easily.

Skull exhaled and nodded. “Okay.”

“What were you before?” he asked.

“I did stunt work,” Skull replied, confirming his memory that the Cloud had been one in his original world. “But now I’ve been caught up in all this. What about you?”

“Supposedly just a regular person, but I was born into a family and kept a secret. For my protection, of course.”

Skull’s brow slid up at the tone. “So you’ve never—okay. That’s kinda cool, actually. Neither of us was… I still do stunt work when I can, but it’s not easy getting jobs in this condition. I’m mostly forced to do other things.”

Tsuna noted that Skull sounded really forlorn about that. “I’m sorry your life was stolen from you,” he said, then immediately plowed on with, “I notice you wear a motorcycle helmet a lot. Were you able to get one your size or…?”

Skull grinned. “Yeah. It took some doing, but I got one. But I have other ways of getting around, too. I have this really cool airship!”

He vaguely remembered something about that. “Your own airship? Wow. So you can fly anywhere and not have to worry about sneaking onto airplanes or pretending to be a kid and have to have some flight attendant constantly cooing at you and calling you sweetie or something equally annoying?”

“Yep! And it has room for living quarters and a place for my motorcycle, and for my animal companion.”

“A floating home. That would really be something. Being able to just drift away from everyone when you want. But do air traffic controllers give you trouble?”

“Well… I tend to use it over the ocean and stay out of regular flight paths. But yeah, I can just drift off when I need to, assuming I remember to stock plenty of food. I like it. What kind of companion do you have?”

Tsuna laughed softly. “It’s funny, because I was really scared of them before. I have a bat, a fruit bat. He’s real cute, and it makes me wonder why they scared me in the first place. Watching him eat makes me laugh, because he seems to get so much enjoyment out of it.”

“Does he have any cool powers?”

“Apparently he can change size so that he could fly me around if I wanted him to, but I think I could probably fly on my own.” Maybe if he started early enough he could replicate what he did before, just minus the gloves. “What about yours?”

“I have an octopus,” Skull said cheerfully. “He’s real cool. He knows what I want him to do by watching my hands.”

“An octopus? Does that mean you could wear the right gear and he could take you diving? Can he change size, too? Because I’d think it’d be awkward having him with you in a city or something.”

“Yep! He’s super cute when he’s tiny. We like to—” Skull broke off as a chirping sound interrupted. “…That’s my alarm. I have to go for now.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll send you a text soon and hopefully we can talk again,” he said, kind of disappointed that they couldn’t speak for longer.

“I hope you do! Ciao!”

When Skull hung up he released the link and put his phone away.

Skull relaxed as he felt that sensation of being watched vanish. Welkin had said he couldn’t hear anything, but… “No,” he muttered, “I’m going to accept what he said at face value. He seems really nice. I’m kind of annoyed with myself for having set that alarm now, but we can talk again later.” He glanced at his phone. “Maybe I can send him the occasional text just to say hello? Even if we don’t get to talk right then?”

He put the phone away and hastened off to his motorcycle, put his helmet on, and sped off to the airship. After getting his bike parked and his helmet stowed, he wandered into the tiny kitchen and got himself a snack, giving a little wave to Oodako, who was splashing around in the sink. “I talked to the new Sky,” he told his companion. “He said he reached out to me first. I wonder why me and not one of the others.”

“Why not you?” Oodako asked.

Skull scoffed. “You know why.”

“No, I don’t. So what if Reborn and Colonnello aren’t all that nice just because you didn’t come from a mafia background? Why would a brand new Sky necessarily be anything like them? You can’t judge everyone by those two.”

“I know…”

“Then don’t just know, believe,” Oodako said firmly, flipping a tentacle in his direction for emphasis. “Give this new Sky a proper chance.”

He nodded, trying to be optimistic. It was hard. He was a Cloud, but he wasn’t anything like a normal Cloud, so there was that small issue of actually caring about others, and wanting to be liked. Maybe Welkin was as nice as he sounded. And maybe he just wanted a friend, too. “He says he’s not in Italy, that he didn’t even realize the phone he was using had an Italian number. I wonder where he is. And he’s small!”

Oodako clung to the rim of the sink. “Small? Like you? Why would—?”

Skull shook his head. “Well, Luce did take on chibi form after Aria was old enough. It just seems strange that he started out small.” He gasped suddenly. “Does that mean he’s a lot younger than normal? What if he wasn’t an adult when it happened?”

“Did he sound like a child?”

“Mm, not really, but at the same time, yes. His voice was young, like Reborn’s but without the lisp, but he didn’t come across as being young, not really. He sounded too mature and knowledgeable to be a mere child.”

Oodako settled back. “It’s possible, I suppose. If he really was the best choice, I doubt Checker Face would have quibbled over something like age. If he was old enough to be self-aware and capable of understanding his situation…”

Skull sighed. “He’s probably older than I think and younger than I’d like. Well, he wants to talk on a regular basis, so I should be able to get to know him. And maybe I’ll be invited to come visit. He said he was born into a mafia family, but he’s been hidden.”

“So either his parent wanted to keep him out of things, or was worried for his safety.”

“I guess. He sounded bitter when he said it, so I think it was kept from him and he discovered it.”

“So maybe only one of his parents is a mafioso and has stayed away from him and the other parent in an effort to protect them. The other parent probably didn’t know, either, and may still not. But, that brings up another point,” Oodako said. “If he felt—let’s assume it was the father. If the father felt his family needed to be protected, he’s probably not a lower level mafiosi. Or if he is, he’s with one of the not so nice families that will use your loved ones against you.”

“Like the Triads?”

Oodako sort of shrugged. “Maybe not quite that formalized, but… I’m going to lean toward this Sky’s parent being someone higher up. But it’s all just a guessing game at this point. For all we know he could be an Estraneo and his father hid him and the mother away for very good reason.”

Skull shuddered.

Over the course of the week he spent the mornings with his mother, getting her to teach him how to cook, but in the afternoons he spent time in darkened rooms at the memorial house working with Quince on navigating by echolocation. He would blindfold himself and then let Quince guide him through a dark room. By himself, without the blindfold, he relied on infravision instead. Some materials lost heat faster than others, and it all resolved to shapes and perspective. Still, if he was stuck in a dark place he would not have to stumble around and bash into walls so long as Quince was there to help or his eyes were uncovered.

He also experimented with trying to produce flames from his hands, but only ever at the memorial house, so he could fly again. Maybe being an Arcobaleno would afford him the chance to better deal with hard and soft flame output, so he wouldn’t need something like those contact lenses again. He had no plans to start attacking people with X-Burner anytime soon, but if he could do it without needing to wait so long for Spanner to come up with the things again…

On Saturday he settled in to hopefully talk to Skull again, and sent a text message asking if he was free. It was a pain to manage given the archaic quality of the phone—he was used to a much more advanced version, after all. His phone rang about thirty seconds later, so he answered with, “Ciao.”

“Ciao! So I’ve been thinking,” Skull said. “You speak Italian really well, but you’re not in Italy. How many languages do you know?”

“Four. Did you have a good week?”

“…It was fine. Nothing really exciting happened. Oodako and I went fishing and collected a lot of seafood to store on the airship.”

“That name is Japanese,” he commented unthinkingly. ‘And very literal.’

“Yep. He’s named after the one in that Godzilla movie, but he’s way cooler. What did you do this week?”

“I decided to learn how to cook. I like to eat, but I don’t think I’ve been all that appreciative of those who’ve cooked for me in the past, so … yeah. If I learn how to do it myself, I can cook for myself and others, kind of a way to say thank you.”

“I can see that,” Skull replied, “and it’s a nice way to look at things.”

“I’ve also been learning how to work with my companion. Quince is pretty patient. I was considering making a dummy or something so I could practice against it. Being this size kind of throws everything off. I mean, I should know how to defend myself, right? Not everyone is going to be nice to me.”

“That’s likely accurate,” Skull said slowly. “Some people see Skies as being like royalty, but some people see them as a good way to get a family under their thumb. Are you—do you have any guardians?”

“No, none,” he admitted, assuming that Skull meant other Flames of the Sky. “I didn’t know if I was supposed to just find some or if, um…”

“If the other Arcobaleno would serve that way?”

“I don’t like the word serve,” he said immediately, “but I understand what you mean. But regardless, a Sky doesn’t seem to live as long, so is it really fair to harmonize with people only to have to…”

Skull didn’t say anything for a long stretch. “But, you’re still alive. Isn’t it only hurting yourself if you don’t make connections?”

“I am making connections, or trying to,” he replied, “just not necessarily trying to make anyone feel responsible for me.” He knew it wasn’t the end of the world if a guardian died. Nono had gone through more than a few himself. But it still had to hurt when it happened. And for a non-Sky to lose their Sky? He had trouble comprehending just how that would affect—had affected—his guardians from his former life. Had they fallen apart? Would they be all right? Was it like someone had squeezed their hearts painfully? Had Reborn tortured them all for failing?

“It’s a two-way street, Welkin,” Skull said. “Both sides have to make decisions. You can’t force anyone to harmonize. You both have to want it, even if you don’t realize you do.”

“Is it too personal a question to ask if you’ve harmonized with a Sky?”

“I haven’t, but I haven’t found one I really felt comfortable with. I didn’t come from a mafia background, so the concept was foreign to me. And Skies are rare, anyway. It’s not like we all get the chance.”

“Oh.” Was Reborn like that, too? It seemed like the only Arcobaleno he knew of that had a boss was Mammon, and he didn’t even know if actual harmonization was involved. And that made him try to remember exactly when the Cradle Affair happened. Daemon or Byakuran would probably know.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Huh? I’m sorry, I got lost in thought for a minute. Do any of the Arcobaleno have a Sky?”

“Well, Mammon sort of does, but I’m not sure if it’s a real bond. He won’t even give you the time of day usually unless you fork over a lot of cash, so asking him a question like that would probably be really expensive. I don’t think anyone else does, though.”

“I wonder why,” he mused. “Maybe people are chosen to be Arcobaleno also based on the odds of them even wanting to harmonize?”

“…I don’t have any idea,” Skull said.

Tsuna got the distinct impression that Skull had meant to say something else entirely, but was not willing to push the issue so early on. “Are you part of a family?”

“No, I do freelance work. That way I can pick and chose what jobs I take.”

“That makes sense,” he replied, wondering when it was that his Skull had gone to work as a strategist for the Carcassa Famiglia. Maybe here it would never happen. “I would prefer to be able to choose. I can try to hide myself away from the mafia world at large, but I don’t know how well that will work. I’d rather have friends I enjoy spending time with and can trust over all the stuff I suspect goes on in the average family.”

“Do you know much about the one you were born into?” Skull asked.

“Yeah, unfortunately. I’m not saying they have a bad reputation or anything, but… I have reasons for not being entirely comfortable with it.”

“And they don’t know that you know.”

“Right. I wasn’t supposed to know anything. I think they hoped I wouldn’t have active flames. If they ever figure out I do, well…”

“You know, I’m kind of confused at this point,” Skull said slowly. “How is it that nobody’s noticed how small you are?”

“Um… I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention to any hints I was inadvertently dropping, huh. Will you promise to keep it a secret?”

“I promise,” Skull said immediately.

“Um… I’m only five, and my mother is kind of oblivious.”

“What!?” was shrieked in his ear. “Five!?”

“Ow,” he said plaintively.

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to be that loud. Oodako and I had wondered if you were younger than normal, but I didn’t really expect it to be true. You sound way too mature to be five. I guess you’re really smart.”

‘I don’t know about that,’ he thought, ‘but maybe now that my flames have never been sealed…’ “Maybe?” he replied. It was too easy to fool his mother, and too easy to actually forget he had shrunk even smaller than this body’s proper age. It was surprising when he thought about it, but perhaps part of the process involved made it easier on the ones cursed, to adjust. “Or maybe being made into an Arcobaleno does something to your mind.”

“I suppose that’s possible. Still, five. Wow. I see what you mean now about not being able to travel easily. But you said you have at least one friend there?”

“Two, but they’re kind of new and not here all the time. I guess now that you know you could visit, if it wouldn’t bring down any suspicion on the area. I mean, do people keep track of where you are? You must be fairly well known, right?”

There was a long pause, and Tsuna almost wished he had decided to spy through the link just so he could see the expression on Skull’s face.

“There’s a few things I can do to disguise myself,” Skull finally said. “I don’t _have_ to have the airship with me, though it would mean not having my home there.”

“Oh, well, my mother wouldn’t mind you staying. She’d just be happy I had a friend visiting.” He might as well go for broke. If it all blew up in his face, well, being known as the Sky Arcobaleno meant Nono wouldn’t dare try to seal his flames. Of course, if that were known, it might shunt him straight into the running for Decimo again, based on his obvious specialness or something.

“A vacation sounds nice,” Skull said cheerfully. “What country are you even in?”

“Japan.”

“…Japan?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” Skull chirped. “Japan it is.”

They ended the call after Skull had memorized the location. His new friend would start making plans and they could go over them the following week. Or he would shortly be getting an emergency visit from Nono, but he could hope not.

Skull hit the button to end the call and stared at Oodako. Speakerphone was a wonderful thing. “Wow.”

“Five?”

“Five years old. He’s five! And as much as he does seem to understand, there seems to be a whole lot he doesn’t.” His mouth twisted unhappily. “Can you imagine not being in any particular hurry to get guardians? I mean, I can’t say I know or understand how the mind of a Sky works, but… He’s five, he’s mostly alone, but he doesn’t want people to feel responsible for him? What kind of a childhood has he had?”

“He said his mother was oblivious. That means anything could have been happening in his life and she might not notice. You should still be careful, though, because we don’t know how accurate Welkin’s assessment is. He’s five, so he might be missing some of the details.”

“Well, I can use semi-permanent dye,” Skull said, “and not bother to put on makeup. And I can put away the piercings for a while. I do the right things and most people would never realize I was anything other than a child.”

“True,” Oodako said agreeably. “We can also probably rule out something like Estraneo, but it depends on what he actually found that clued him in to being mafia.”

Skull nodded. “That’s true. We have no idea what he found or just how deeply it went. He might have a skewed idea of what his family is like. If it really was something like Estraneo, I would like to believe that the father wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave references to that laying around, even if he was stupid enough to leave something Welkin could find.”

“Well, either way, he’s obviously very smart. He said he knows four languages already. Unless his mother has been raising him multilingual on purpose, it says to me that the boy is bored and he’s probably been spending a lot of time learning on his own. Really smart children often have trouble relating to their peers and go off into their own little worlds.”

Skull hummed thoughtfully. “Let me get a notebook so we can start making a list of preparations.”

Byakuran and Daemon showed up on Tuesday as he was on his way to the memorial house, so he diverted from his plans and went to spend time with them instead. They ended up in a house on the outskirts of town that Byakuran had apparently bought. Once they were seated Byakuran handed over a key, and then a set of boots.

Tsuna eyed the boots with confusion.

“They’re flame boots,” Byakuran said. “Remember those? I figured, since I was given those memories, I could make some for you. It might take a while for you to figure out how to fly the way you did before, so these might be useful for now.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Daemon handed over a chain and a metal net. “One is for the pacifier, and the other one can go around your ankle. The ankle bracelet will help veil people’s minds with Mist, so they don’t ask awkward questions.”

“Like why I suddenly got younger awkward, or why a two year old is attending middle school awkward?”

Daemon smirked. “Obviously, it will also affect Nono and Iemitsu. But you’ll get more use out of it fending off the rest of the world.”

He nodded. “And the net is like a Mammon Chain?”

“Precisely. I suppose you could have gone to him directly and paid an outrageous sum of money you don’t yet have for him to make one, but why bother? Besides, how would you reasonably know he was capable of making them in the first place?”

That gave him pause. He had yet to consider approaching Mammon, but that probably would have been a tactic that came to mind. And that reminded him of the Cradle Affair again, so he asked.

“Eh, I’m pretty sure that happened—will happen—in 2007,” Byakuran said. “Why? Do you plan to meddle?”

“Should I? Should I look the other way? What about Mukuro? Does having this knowledge mean I should do something with it? Or is using it just a way to justify playing god? Actually, I just realized that Mammon could find me at any time just by sneezing on a piece of paper. I wonder how much he’d sell me out for?”

Daemon chuckled and shook his head. “The bracelet will protect you against that. I considered a lot of possibilities when I was planning it out.”

With that in mind he twisted around so he could latch the thing around his left ankle.

“Don’t take it off,” Daemon said. “People who know the truth, like us, won’t be affected by it. But the masses will, and it’ll prevent things like Mammon’s trick.”

“Speaking of…” He bit his lip. “I got in contact with Skull and he’s making plans to come for a visit. I wasn’t watching what I said carefully enough, I guess, and he figured out I was pretty young. He’s either being honest, or he’ll sell me out and I’ll get a surprise visit from people I don’t want to see.”

Byakuran shook his head and produced a bag of marshmallows to munch on. “Skull doesn’t seem the type, so I expect it’ll be fine. Besides, knowing you—” He rolled his eyes. “—you’ll manage to harmonize with him in no time flat.”

Tsuna sighed.

“Anyway, the other me gave you a second life for _you_ , Tsu-kun, not so you could come here and right all the wrongs in this dimension. Use the information you have to better understand people, but consider maybe just letting the world handle itself. You already saved the dimensions! And I was a fantastic villain. So was Daemon.”

He sighed again and fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

“Besides, you can’t go on a one-man crusade. Seriously. How would you even plan to help Mukuro or Xanxus or, uh, whoever? Were you planning to ninja your way into Estraneo and sweet talk all the scientists into the realization that their experiments were evil? Kidnap the kids somehow? Sit down with Xanxus and gently break the news to him, let him sob on your shoulder, and everything ends up kittens and rainbows?”

Tsuna snorted at the idea of Xanxus, of all people, sobbing on his shoulder. “When you put it like that, it does sound awfully unlikely. I would need an amazing team to do anything, and getting around the Vindice…”

“Well, there you go. So, let’s talk money.”

A few hours later his head was spinning with information overload and he had taken copious notes, but he was handling it much better than he would have previously. His two friends had created a false identity for him so he could start raking in money, and showed him the laptop set up in the house that he could use. For all that Byakuran could be infuriatingly casual, he had spent a lot of time setting things up after gaining those memories so that he could help Tsuna survive on his own.

It would be up to him to keep on top of it, and make any transfers from accounts to the one Byakuran had set up that had a card linked to, but so long as he put a little time toward it regularly, he would probably not have to worry about money again. Quarterly revenue should suffice. He wondered how many other Skies used the tactic, or if most simply didn’t have Byakuran’s peculiar outlook and it never occurred to them. It certainly had not to him previously. Then again, maybe it only worked for Skies with really strong intuition, or intuition that leaned toward certain things.

Once the lecture was over he looked at Daemon and said, “Thinking back on it, I’m really confused about how I was able to use Enma’s ring, or how you could use any of them. Does that mean a ring is not only attuned to a particular flame, but someone can use one to alter the properties of their own? Are rings really that powerful?”

Daemon nodded. “But it also depends on the user. Someone with low flame strength and purity wouldn’t be able to do it. You could, and I could, but I doubt the Bovino boss could, or the random average mafiosi. You might say that people who stand a chance at being chosen as Arcobaleno could manage it.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “Who even makes them? Talbot can’t be the only one, can he?”

“Do you want one?” Daemon asked. “Why and what kind?”

“I don’t know that I do,” he said, “but I admit it was pretty cool being able to manipulate gravity. Either way, if a ring can transform into a type of weapon, why couldn’t I have a ring that created gauntlets the same way Enma’s ring did? I’m grateful that Leon made gloves for me, but they were super inconvenient, whereas a ring would be a lot less of a pain to always have on hand.”

“No pun intended,” Byakuran said.

Tsuna gave him an insincere smile.

“I’ll do some checking,” Daemon said. “In the meantime, you need to start making money. And we need to work out some real plans as to getting you stuffed full of knowledge. By the time you enter school you should be able to simultaneously breeze through everything and be bored out of your mind.”

“Which means he’d have plenty of time to plot,” Byakuran said happily. “In any case, I already did some checking and have plenty of books for Tsu-kun to go over and refresh his knowledge. Being unfettered means you’ll probably have a much easier time of things. Skull may or may not be able to provide some assistance, but really, anything you end up having issues with, set aside, and the next time we meet we can go over whatever it is.”

“That makes sense, though I think you two are a little weird for trying to get me to do all this so early.”

“You’re going to be bored out of your mind either way once you enter classes,” Daemon pointed out. “So you might as well be doing interesting things while there, while still knowing you can answer any questions posed to you.”

‘Kind of like Hayato, I suppose,’ he thought, remembering how he used to daydream through classes, yet always had the answer if he was called on. ‘Well, I did do badly the first time around, so I should put in some effort this time.’

Something must have shown in his expression, because Byakuran said, “The books are in the library!”


	2. 02: 2005-2006

He realized by the time Skull arrived that his mind seemed to work _so_ much better. Had he been a true five year old that might not be the case, but he was kind of special. Byakuran had arranged the books on shelves based on the level of difficulty. Even if they didn’t correspond to how his schools had divided the material, it was still grouped in a way that made sense. It made it easy to feel like he was accomplishing things when he was able to clear a section and move on to the next one. At some point he expected it would get more difficult, but knowing his foundation was in place was comforting.

He also wondered what he and Skull could do together. Skull was expecting a mature five year old, but he was nothing of the sort. What if he fell for someone along the way? Wasn’t that a weird thought. Reborn supposedly had Bianchi as a girlfriend, but looking back… ‘Now that I think about it, he fell asleep a lot around her, especially when she showed up with food. Maybe he was just trying to deflect her obsession in a kindly way? The whole situation was creepy. She was only seventeen when she showed up, and she’d been obsessed with him even when he was still tutoring Dino?’ He shuddered and let his mind shy away from the whole thing.

“It would be nice to see Dino again, though,” he muttered as he went over the latest reports on potential investments. “But he’s just a kid right now, and not the man I knew.” He sighed and flipped the page. “Maybe if I’m feeling super confident I can crash a tutoring session and try to confound Reborn. And that’s assuming it still happens.”

Tsuna frowned and made a mental note to ask Byakuran if he knew just how similar his current dimension was to his original. His phone chirped, alerting him to a text message. Skull had arrived in Namimori and was at the agreed upon spot. Tsuna sent back a quick acknowledgment and set the reports aside, then dashed off to get his boots on and exit the house.

He found Skull as expected in that one park in town nobody seemed to frequent. He had left the Mist Net off his pacifier so that Skull would know it was him coming, and as he got closer he could see a corresponding gleam of light appear. He wanted to race over, but thought that might startle Skull, so he walked steadily. Skull’s face lit up on seeing him, and Tsuna smiled in return, finally dashing the last of the distance. “Ciao!”

“Ciao,” Skull replied. “Wow.”

“Hey, are you hungry?” he asked, eyeing how Skull had black hair instead of purple, and how he had left off the markings on his face and jewelry. “It’s almost time for dinner, so we can go to my house.”

“Okay,” Skull said with a nod. “You’re sure?”

“Yep! It’ll be fine. Let’s go!” He dashed a short distance away, paused to make sure Skull was following, then started jogging. When they arrived he opened the door for his new friend and headed in after him. His mother was in the kitchen, humming as she cooked. Tsuna slipped his boots off and put them in a cubby, then entered the kitchen with Skull.

“I brought a friend home,” he announced.

Nana twisted around to look, then beamed. “Oh my, how lovely. My little Tsu-kun has a friend. It’s nice to meet you,” she said to Skull. “I’m Sawada Nana, but you can call me Mama.”

“This is Karu-kun,” Tsuna said quickly, only just then realizing that his family name was probably a shining beacon in the darkness that was his identity for Skull. ‘I really need to think these things through better,’ he admonished himself.

Skull shook off his reaction and smiled at Nana. “I’m happy to be here.”

“You two go wash up, okay? Then we’ll eat.”

Tsuna nodded and herded Skull away, and they were back in a couple of minutes and taking seats. ‘For all I know he’s freaking out. What to do? Pray?’ He smiled as his mother set food in front of him and gave his thanks, then began eating. His mother didn’t ask any awkward questions and the meal went smoothly. They went up to his room afterward and he quailed slightly at the look on Skull’s face.

“Sawada,” Skull murmured.

“Um… Can we hold off on that until tomorrow, please? When we’re not in this house?”

Skull nodded and smiled, and looked around. “So this is your room?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of a mess,” he said, despite the fact that it was tidy. Part of his “let’s be appreciative” thing resulted in actually keeping his room clean, so his mother did not have the extra burden. “I guess I didn’t think this through, huh. We can share the bed, or I can get out one of the futons and we can share that instead. Or I can sleep on that and—”

“It’s fine,” Skull said reassuringly. “It doesn’t matter. We’re both really small, so we don’t take up much room.”

He gave Skull a wide-eyed look and nodded, then blinked when he heard that chortling sound. “Oh, that’s right. C’mon out, Quince. I want you to meet Skull.”

Quince crawled out of Tsuna’s hair and perched on his shoulder, lazily waving at Skull in greeting.

“Ciao,” Skull greeted. “It’s nice to meet you.” Then he swung the pack he was wearing off and opened it. A miniature red octopus appeared from inside and waved a tentacle. “This is Oodako.”

Tsuna felt like squeeing, his hands coming up under his chin in unconscious mimicry of his mother. “You’re right. He’s really cute.” The only other time he had seen the companion was during the assault on Mafia Land, and Oodako had been massive in size and armored.

Oodako turned a darker shade of red for a moment.

“I’m happy to meet you, Oodako-san,” Tsuna said. “Do you need anything special? Should I fill a sink with water or something?”

Skull and Oodako exchanged a look, and Tsuna just knew they were speaking to each other. It was strange seeing it in action. “I brought along a collapsible container,” Skull said after a minute. “I can fill that with water so we don’t tie up a sink or a tub or whatever.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Oodako doesn’t have to be in water all the time,” Skull explained, “but it is more comfortable for him.”

After that was taken care of they settled on the bed and, at a loss as to what else to do, Tsuna asked about Skull’s journey to Japan. That took care of the evening, as Skull described how he had cleverly ninja’d his way there, and they spent the night cozily enough. It was a little strange at first having someone else in the bed, though.

After breakfast Nana waved them off to go play, so Tsuna led Skull to Byakuran’s house. He settled onto a sofa in the living room and sent an uncertain look at Skull. “You recognized the name, huh?”

Skull nodded. “So you’re Vongola.”

He sighed and looked down briefly. “Yeah. Big, powerful family. I wasn’t happy to find out.”

“You said your father kept you and your mother in the dark, to protect you.”

He nodded. “But I really hate it. How can he even call himself a father if he’s never there? Sure, he sends home plenty of money so we have food and stuff, but he’s never around. And when he does show up, he’s kind of frightening.”

Skull’s brow went up.

“He’s so loud,” Tsuna complained, forgetting for a moment that he had yet to actually see the man this time around. “He likes to toss me up in the air and he doesn’t always manage to catch me. He seems to think I’m exactly like he is, which is insulting.”

“Insulting?”

“Well, yeah. He doesn’t seem to see me as a person, just as an extension of him. I should like everything he likes, want to do things he does, think the way he does, stuff like that. And yet he’s never there to teach me anything. He’s off doing mafia stuff, leaving us in the dark, sending the occasional letter that even I can see through.” He looked straight at Skull. “Really now, who in their right mind would believe that there are penguin traffic controllers in the Antarctic?”

Skull snickered and shook his head, then frowned and looked uneasy.

“Like I said, my mother is oblivious.”

Skull’s expression cleared. “I see. Have you ever really told anyone how you feel about your father?”

“Not really. Who would listen? My mother gets upset at the least hint of criticism toward him. I don’t know if she’s happy, or if she’s wearing a really good mask.”

Skull shrugged awkwardly. “Vongola Nono has four sons, though, so the odds of you getting pulled into any of that seems low.”

‘If only you knew,’ he thought, ‘and I feel like a jerk for not spitting out the truth. There are some serious disadvantages to a second chance like this, never mind the whole being cursed into toddler form thing.’

“But if you father comes to visit, how are you going to hide the pacifier?”

Tsuna sighed. “I have something that will help—a friend made it for me—but…”

“Your friend can’t be an Arcobaleno based on what you’ve said, but they’re obviously familiar with the mafia,” Skull commented.

“Yeah. The two of them set up this house for me to use. It’s got a computer and tons of books I can learn from.”

“Well…” Skull looked around. “Is there anything you’re having trouble with? Or would you like to try something like sparring instead? I don’t actually know a lot about fighting because Oodako usually helps there, but we can try.”

“Did you do a lot of work to prepare for doing stunt jobs?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Skull said, nodding. “There was a lot of exercise involved, to strengthen various muscle groups. A lot of stunts can really mess you up if you aren’t in shape and your body can’t withstand the strain. Would you like to learn about that, then?”

“Sure. Though I suppose I should find something better to wear in the near future,” he said pragmatically. Maybe he should store clothing there. Once he had funds he could afford to stock a lot of things there. “I guess we could go out back, or is it something we can do in here?”

“I think it’d be fine in here for now,” Skull said. “There’s plenty of room. But if you get into something like learning katas or practicing against a training dummy, you’d want to be outside.”

They were taking a break when he asked, “So how long can you visit for?”

“A week or two,” Skull said. “Much longer than that and people might start looking. But I don’t see why I can’t come back every so often for another visit.”

“Do you … do hits?”

Skull’s eyes closed briefly. “I prefer not to, but I have done some, yes. I also do infiltration work, spying, stuff like that.”

To Tsuna it seemed like Skull was waiting for him to react badly. Would the average five year old even understand what any of that meant? Would a seeming child who was upset with his mafioso father be angry that his new friend was also one? Getting a second chance and being cursed made him awfully introspective at times, he realized. “I hope whoever you had to kill deserved it, then.”

Skull straightened minutely and nodded. “I have strict rules for myself when it comes to that. It’s hard enough as it is being like this and not having a real choice in dealing with the mafia. If a client can’t handle my rules, I don’t need them as a client.”

Tsuna nodded. “I like that. Having a code of conduct is good. So, are there rules or something for Arcobaleno?”

Skull relaxed even further and nodded. “There are, yes, but I think break time is over.”

Tsuna sighed, but got ready to do some more work.

That evening as they were “playing” in Tsuna’s room Skull said, “There’s only one real rule, and that’s that we don’t attack each other. We have a special place we can meet, but that’s normally only used when one of us has to send secret messages.”

Tsuna aimed a confused look at Skull. “Like invisible ink? Or like code?”

“Invisible ink,” Skull said, “except that in order to read a message like that, you have to shine light from your pacifier on it.”

“And it only works at the special place?”

Skull shook his head. “No, but being there strengthens the light, so if you’re having trouble reading a message, that’s where you’d go.”

Tsuna hummed thoughtfully. “I have two questions.”

Skull nodded.

“One, I bet I can convince my mother that you and I are going on a trip with your family, so would it be possible for you to take me there at some point?”

“But I don’t even ha—oh. Yes, we could do that some time.”

“Two, how do you even write a secret message?”

Skull grinned. “It’s pretty simple. You write a message like normal, then use your pacifier to bleach it out. Only more light from one will make the message appear again. It can’t be just normal flames, or heat, or anything like that.”

“Cool,” he said. “I thought of another question.”

“Go ahead,” Skull said encouragingly.

“If you’re not supposed to attack each other, does that mean only the for real stuff?”

Skull stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Sparring doesn’t count. But if there’s real intent to harm or kill, it needs to be resolved some other way.”

Was that why Reborn had simply negated Skull’s attack at Mafia Land? Why he let him get away? Reborn and Colonnello had been shooting at each other that day, but they treated it like some game of skill. Maybe it was just a weird way to greet each other? Or show off?

“Would you really want to go that far from home, though?” Skull asked, breaking him from his thoughts. “You’re so … young.”

“I don’t feel young,” he said simply. “I feel like I’m twenty-five years old.”

“Oh, um…”

The next day after exercises he said, “I don’t want to take up tons of your time, but I was wondering…”

“Yes?”

“How often do you think you could visit? Would once a quarter be too often? Would people get suspicious, do you think?”

Skull scratched the back of his neck and looked off to the side. “I think that’d be okay. So long as I’m careful nobody should notice. Once a quarter sounds good.”

Tsuna smiled. “Okay. I mean, I know you’re a Cloud and all, so you might prefer to drift most of the time, or something. But it would be nice to spend time together.”

“I’d like that. It’s a plan.”

During the remainder of Skull’s visit they did their routine in the mornings after breakfast, spent time in the afternoon sneaking around town, and in the evenings they would simply talk. Tsuna badly wanted to ask about the events that led up to what Reborn had called the Fated Day, but he felt it was much too soon. Maybe once he had known Skull for a lot longer he could ask. Reborn had never gone into detail about any of it and he had never felt like he could ask.

Skull left with a promise to be available on Saturday afternoons (Tsuna’s time), and to plan for a visit in February. He felt sad when Skull disappeared into the distance, but took a deep breath and set his feelings to the side. It was time to return to finances, books, cooking lessons, and the exercise routine Skull had taught him.

“That was a very interesting visit.”

Skull nodded. “He sure is mature. I saw more than a few instances of him acting like the five year old he is, but overall I can almost believe when he says he feels twenty-five. I like him. He seems genuinely nice.”

“I think so, too.”

“He mentioned going off on a trip… What do you think of the idea of extending those lessons on sneaking around and making plans for a visit to another town or city? Kids like amusement parks, don’t they?”

“Most of them seem to. If you feel confident you could arrange a trip to Tokyo Disney. It’s a fair distance from Namimori, but it’s not like you’d be taking him out of the country. And you’d have plenty of opportunity to show him how to travel without being noticed. Or you could look a bit closer. Kobe isn’t that far away from him, so how about you investigate what the city has to offer?”

He pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah, I’d feel a bit weird taking him all the way to Tokyo, so… We can go through Kobe and pick up some information. Then it’s back to Italy.” He sighed.

“Do you think he’ll be a good Sky?”

“Yeah. He didn’t seem too upset that I couldn’t be there all the time. He seemed to understand that I need to go off and do things. But that could also be that he’s not expecting much, not with a father like his.”

“He showed a marked amount of perception when it came to his father,” Oodako commented. “Or at least I think so.”

“No, I think you’re probably right. What I know of Sawada says he’s completely committed to his role in Vongola. But still, why even bother to get married and have a child if you’re just going to park them in some out of the way place and stay away most of the time for their protection? ‘I love you with all my heart, but now that you’ve borne me a child, let us never see each other again!’ ”

Oodako waved a few tentacles around in his version of laughter.

“Well, I’m not going to speculate too much on all of that, I guess,” he said. “Let’s get through Kobe, and then we can sneak on a plane. I’d like to wash this dye out of my hair, too, but that can wait until we’re out of Japan.”

By the next time Skull visited Tsuna was starting to see dividends roll in, so he had money to spend. He had asked for and received another Mist Net, so that he had a gift for Skull. After all, it had to be costing Skull money—either in direct expenses or in loss of income—to make these trips, and Tsuna wanted to show his gratitude in an enduring way.

They met at Byakuran’s house, since Skull knew where it was, and the first thing out of Skull’s mouth after a greeting was, “How do you feel about visiting Kobe?”

“Um… Sure! Why Kobe?”

“It’s not too far away, for one thing. I can teach you about traveling like this. We can spend time seeing the sights, and you can see ways of handling people who tend to want to coo at you and find your mommy.”

Tsuna laughed. “I have a present for you.”

Skull blinked. “Oh?”

He nodded and held his hand out with the net on it. “I have one, too. It masks my pacifier. I don’t use it when you’re going to be visiting, because I always want to make sure you know it’s me coming. I’m not sure why you’d want to sneak up on another Arcobaleno, but maybe it would still be of use to you.”

Skull accepted the gift and stared at it. “Your friend?”

“Yep. He thinks of all sorts of neat stuff.”

“I’m not sure, either, but—” Skull stared at the net again, his brow going all crinkly.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, no. I just thought of a use for it. Colonnello is in charge of the training ground at Mafia Land. If we ever went there he’d know. But with these…”

He pulled out his own net and used it to encase his pacifier. Skull shortly followed suit. Once that was done Tsuna asked, “Mafia Land?”

“Oh, yes. It’s a man-made island that motors around on a circuit. It was paid for by the, um, better families. It’s a huge resort with rides and shops and restaurants, that sort of thing. Generally speaking, you need to have the right connections to get access. Colonnello is the Rain Arcobaleno—”

Tsuna nodded.

“—and he uses the back end of the island as a training ground. I understand that some people go to him specifically for training. He also helps out with security.”

Skull went on to tell him a bunch of things he already knew, but Tsuna listened attentively. Skull might tell him something Reborn hadn’t bothered to, after all, or that he had not thought to ask about. As he recalled, he had been freaked out during most of that whole episode, first on the trip over with that damn game of hide and seek, and then by being thrown to the sharks in more than one sense.

“I wonder if my friend could swing us a way in,” he muttered.

Skull eyed him oddly, but let it pass. “But for now, if you’d like to visit Kobe…”

“Yep!” They headed off to the Sawada home. Nana was easily convinced (“You really weren’t kidding,” Skull commented after they left.) and they went off on their journey. Tsuna was shown the best ways to deflect adult interest, the best hiding places on trains, and how to navigate an entirely unfamiliar city.

Tsuna had a blast. Skull was an uncritical companion who seemed to have endless patience when it came to explaining things. ‘But,’ he reflected, ‘that might partly be because he thinks I’m so young, even if I don’t act like a typical child.’ The contrast between Skull and Reborn was stark, but he could not help but hold a lot of fondness for his former tutor.

By the time they returned to Namimori he felt a lot more confident about the idea of exploring, to waste less time on getting freaked out, and to feel a sense of adventure. ‘Though,’ he admitted, ‘there’s a huge difference between going it alone and having a friend with you.’

His next visit with Byakuran and Daemon saw him asking, “Just how close is this dimension to my original one, do you think?”

“You could try that weird thing people do,” Byakuran drawled, “where you exchange greetings first.”

Tsuna frowned. “You’re right. That was rude of me, and I apologize. Hello, Byakuran. Hello, Daemon. I’m really happy to see you both again.”

Byakuran smiled and shoved a bag under Tsuna’s nose, inviting him to snack (which he did, getting a handful of marshmallows for himself). “As to your question, I have no real idea. I can see sideways, across dimensions, but I need the Sky Mare Ring to really get going with that, and Aria probably has it right now. Still, what I’ve been able to see makes me think it’s really not that much different. But sometimes it’s the tiniest of differences that makes things veer wildly off expected course. And there’s probably a lot of things that aren’t readily apparent that are different, and won’t make a big difference, or won’t come into play until down the road.”

“I was still my charming psychotic self before you got transferred over,” Daemon said. “It was only gaining those memories that hauled me up short and got me to do something other than obsess about the continuing power of the Vongola. Try not to worry about it too much.”

He sighed and nodded.

“How’s your money grubbing been going?” Byakuran asked.

“Oh, fine. I have dividends rolling in, so… Like you said, so long as I check every so often and make trades where my intuition twinges, I should be fine. I don’t have a lot right now, but it’ll keep building.”

“Any problems so far with those books?”

He shook his head. “Surprisingly, no. But I will set aside anything I’m having trouble with.”

Daemon nodded. “And your progress on the other Arcobaleno?”

Tsuna looked to the side in mild embarrassment. “Well…”

“You don’t have to get in contact with them yet,” Daemon said a shade huffily. “But you should probably be in position where you can. A lone Sky is a painful thing, Tsuna.”

“…Oh, that reminds me. What are the odds of one of you being able to get me and Skull access to Mafia Land?”

“So you can see Colonnello?”

Tsuna shook his head. “No, I’d just like to visit without having a lot of pressure on me at the same time. It seems like it’d be a fun thing for us to do. The last time I didn’t get to enjoy any of it, and I’d really like to.”

“And with those nets in place, Colonnello wouldn’t be alerted to other Arcobaleno in the vicinity,” Daemon said.

He nodded. “It’d be my choice.”

“I see.” Daemon’s eyes went hazy and his gaze drifted off to the side. “I could manage it. I’ll get to work on it and get back to you.”

Tsuna beamed. “Thanks!”

“Are you going to arrange things to get him out of Namimori at the right time?”

Daemon looked sidelong and smiled. “Of course. I’d prefer not to risk it, Nono deciding to preemptively seal his flames, especially with the change in eye colour as a clue. I just need to do some spying first, to clarify exactly when the old man plans to make that visit. Then I can set things up.”

“We should probably ensure that any notification Nana gets is delayed until after those two leave.”

Daemon nodded. “A fair point. It’s true that there’s every possibility that the visit would be entirely innocent in the end. Tsuna might not do whatever he did to alert Nono, and the old man wouldn’t make the attempt. But just as importantly, I’d rather keep him away from Iemitsu for now. From the memories I was given, they never got along, not really, and things only got worse as Tsuna got older and more pressure was piled on his shoulders.”

Byakuran giggled madly. “Well, a delusional man married a delusional woman. How they managed to produce a boy like Tsuna…”

Tsuna stared at the fence in dismay. His attempts to recreate X-Burner in his chibi form had been … exciting. This latest attempt had badly scorched an entire panel of the bamboo fence enclosing the yard behind Byakuran’s house.

Quince lowered him to the ground with a chortle and moved to his shoulder. “So, that was fun,” he commented.

He sighed and sat down. “Damn. I really thought I was getting somewhere. Not having to divide my attention by also controlling the hover helped, but…”

“But maybe it also affected the strength of the attack output?” Quince suggested.

“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. ‘I’m starting to think those contact lenses did me a disservice. We were really pressed for time, and I had to be able to control it as quickly as possible, but in the end, it didn’t teach me anything except how to watch a monitor to know when to act.’ He sighed again, upset over the self-imposed task in front of him.

“How about trying a different style of attack?”

“Huh?”

“Well, from what I can see, you’re trying for this big blast of flame. But isn’t that a waste? And you seem to have to wait a while before you can even launch it, which gives an enemy too much time. Perhaps a more narrow, focused attack? Something you could use at multiple ranges?”

He plucked some grass and started playing with the blades.

“Hm,” Quince said. “Narrow, focused, multi-ranged. Maybe multi-purpose?”

Tsuna frowned. That sounded like a lot. But then he remembered a game he used to play and brightened up. “What about something like kunai? They could hurt, but they could also pin someone down.”

“That sounds like a workable idea,” Quince said. “It fits the general idea. They could be held or thrown, and used for a number of tasks. You wouldn’t have to spend much time creating one, and maybe once you figured it out, you could then work on making them more dense, pack in more flames to make them more effective as an attack.”

Tsuna felt the stirrings of excitement. “Yeah. They’d also be a lot less flashy. Compact, flame-efficient, and not having to wait to, um, power up. Okay! That’s my new goal!”

“You’ve been working really hard, so I’d say it’s time to do something else for a bit,” Quince suggested. “You can think about the idea and we can come back to it tomorrow.”

He hummed. “I think you’re right.” He checked the clock inside and saw it was almost time for dinner anyway, so he headed home and dashed upstairs to clean up. His mother served oyakodon that evening and promised she would teach him how to make it the week following, for lunch.

Tsuna felt closer to his mother than he had ever been as a result of not only trying to be more considerate, but actively doing things with her. When they went shopping he took an interest in what she was planning to buy, because it would affect what they would be eating during the week. He learned that some things she bought daily, to ensure their freshness. He’d had no idea his mother was so meticulous when it came to things like that.

He still could not tell if she was truly happy, though, or just wearing a smiling mask to cover sadness or resignation. It was a very good mask, if that’s what it was. He was learning a lot from those trips, and from the cooking lessons. How to decide between brands; how to ensure produce was fresh; how to prepare things such that they cooked evenly and harmoniously; what tools to use for what situations; the importance of planning and timing; and how to stick to a budget.

“I don’t think your daddy would approve,” his mother said one day while shopping, a mischievous smile on her face, “but this can be our little secret, right, Tsu-kun?”

He returned her smile, but felt a little cold inside all the same. He nodded emphatically and asked, “Can we make dango for a treat?”

“Oh my, that would be nice, wouldn’t it? Okay! We’ll do that. Let’s see, we’ll need…”

He managed, after a week of trying, to finally shape his Sky Flames into a kunai and fling it in the general direction of the fence.

“Good job,” Quince said.

“Well, I’m making progress,” he replied. He _was_ pleased. They had come up with a plan and he was succeeding. Unfortunately, unlike in a video game, he did not just magically gain a skill and be able to use it flawlessly from the start. ‘Maybe this is part of what Reborn was trying to teach me,’ he thought. ‘Maybe that was why he seemed so frustrated at times that it took me so long to use my flames without being shot first.’

“Time for a break?” Quince said.

“Yeah.” He still had a little time, so he went inside and entered the shrine room. He pulled the keys off his ankle bracelet and stared at the doors for a while, contemplating, then opened the Storm door. Inside he sat down and prepared to deal with his feelings regarding Hayato.

His first thought was that Hayato had always been loud and flashy. He was all sound and fury, but Storms were like that, right? But they were always so focused on the attack. There rarely seemed to be a time when Hayato would think about a situation before acting; he just went on the offensive, even if that was putting up a confident and even arrogant front.

‘He did become less volatile as we got older, though,’ he admitted. ‘I was less worried about him exploding into action at the least provocation. But that’s the role of a Storm, right? Relentlessly attacking. Hayato fit that well, despite his other flames.’

Was Fon an example of a mature Storm, or was he another oddity like Skull? Fon had all the tranquility of a Rain. But Tsuna remembered an expression about the eye of the storm, how it was eerily calm there. That seemed like Fon, and yet he had no doubt the man could be ridiculously lethal.

Hayato had been young and raw. ‘Maybe part of it was his family? I get the feeling he always felt alone, like an outsider. Is that partly my fault for not being more understanding? Is that why he always seemed so… He was trying to prove himself? And I just wanted a friend and was trying to ignore all the other stuff as best I could.’

But there were other things about Hayato that had upset him. Reborn had said that mafiosi respected women, and Hayato had anything but respect for many of them. Bianchi was one thing; they were blood family and had a twisted history. Was it still connected in part to Hayato having been an immature Storm?

Tsuna had wanted a friend; Hayato had wanted a boss. That still came back to him to some degree. He hadn’t tried to understand where Hayato had been coming from. He shook his head and covered his ears and sang his way into denial. Maybe the issue wasn’t so much Hayato’s behavior as his ability to understand and respect that nature, and understand how he could direct it, rather than try to control or negate or deny it?

His pacifier glowed, causing him to look down in surprise. “Oh.” There was a distinct red tint to one section.

“Hey,” Quince said happily. “You seem to be getting the hang of this. Do you plan to peek in?”

“Not yet,” he replied. “I think I’ll get all of them linked first. And when I feel comfortable with the idea, I’ll choose whom next to peek in on and contact.”

“Fair enough.”

Steady work over the next week saw him able to produce a kunai in decent time—far faster than powering up an X-Burner attack. He decided to focus on one thing at a time, so speed was his first choice. After that he would work on aim. He supposed if he got bored at any point after mastering those two tasks he could visit the idea of the guns Xanxus used, though getting a similar set…

One of his friends might help, but guns were something that could be taken from him. No, he was better off for the present focusing on the kunai and becoming as versatile and skilled as possible with them.

His next shrine visit took him to the Lightning room. ‘Ugh, Lambo,’ he thought as he took a seat. ‘I ended up being rather fond of him, but I don’t think I ever really accepted him as a guardian to me. He was so young at first. And I’m really mad at my father for pushing him into things. He had no clue what was going on most of the time. Sure, when he got going he did a good job, but I don’t think the idea of drawing damage away from the rest of us meant running so we could come at them from behind.’

Tsuna snorted at the image of a wacky chase scene like out of some anime. But his issues with Lambo were much like the others. Being so focused on denial that he never could accept. Lambo was loud and obnoxious, and that did actually serve to draw attention away from others. The idea of little Lambo being used that way, though… He shuddered. The Lightning battle with the Varia had been horrifying.

Lambo was just as likely to fling himself into danger as Hayato, but with far less of an arsenal. At least, until he had gained a box weapon. Maybe Lambo was so obnoxious in part because he just wanted people to pay attention to him? Had that little conversation they’d had so long ago after Lambo’s first assassination attempt on Reborn caused the kid to latch onto him, because he’d paid attention and listened?

Verde was cool and composed and seemingly utterly disinterested in anything but science. Another direct contrast. ‘I suppose I could become one of his backers,’ he mused, ‘help him to do his thing, though I kind of worry about what he might work on, if it’s ethical or not. Come to think of it, a lot of my guardians were messed up. Hayato had a horrible home life, and so was Lambo’s. Who in their right mind gives that many weapons to a five year old and lets them smuggle themselves off to another country?

‘Takeshi was driven to attempt suicide. Mukuro was tortured. Chrome was neglected at best. The only one who seemed halfway normal in that sense was Ryohei.’ He shook his head. ‘This is about Lightning today, not everyone else. Lambo was supposed to mostly act defensively, to hold the enemy’s attention so we could attack. But I never bothered to understand any of that, I just wanted him out of the way and safe. He might have been safer if I’d taken the time to work _with_ him, helping him to get better, and accepting that there was value in the role he was supposed to fill.’

His pacifier shined again, a brilliant green wedge appearing, so he heaved a sigh and got up.

‘Is this what it was supposed to be like?’ he wondered. He had progressed to creating kunai almost as fast as he could think of doing it. They were all kind of sloppily formed, but he was having no real trouble making them. He felt a vague sense of joy in being able to make use of his power, and not have to be forced into it. He didn’t need to be shot and he didn’t have a—‘Well, actually, I do have a whatever. The pacifier counts. But still, it all seems to come so smoothly now. Did the sealing mess even that up?’

He glanced down at the latest kunai in his hand. “So I should probably work on making them more regular.”

Quince chirped an agreement. “Then aim.”

‘It’s like an extension of my will,’ he thought. ‘Like I finally get that it’s my power, my intent, and it’s mine to use, to protect myself, or others … or even kill. Though I’d prefer to avoid something that drastic again.’

He wandered into the Mist room a short time later and took a seat. ‘I probably don’t even need to come to these rooms to do this, but I might as well, since they’re here.’ Mukuro scared him, but in a different way than Hibari. Mukuro liked to make creepy comments about possessing his body so he could use it to destroy the mafia on his journey to destroy the world. Did Mukuro, in the end, blame everyone for what happened to him? Or had he just been driven to the point of lashing out at anything that moved?

He honestly had no idea why Mukuro had agreed to be his guardian for the Varia battles. Simply because it gave him a chance to fight? To beat down someone so skilled? Chrome, for all that she was Mukuro’s vessel for so long, was at heart a shy and relatively innocent girl. The most interesting thing he knew about Mammon was that he could sneeze on a piece of paper to locate someone. They could all use illusions, but when had any of them actually used those illusions to—‘What did Reborn say again?’—render the famiglia’s true form intangible?

Mukuro was strong, both in spite of what happened to him and because of it. That he could accept. But that was no real help. He could kind of see how Daemon’s actions were suited to the role, even if Daemon veered wildly off course after Elena’s death. Daemon used his illusions to great effect in altering people’s perceptions of the family’s strength, and yet…

‘Daemon’s already doing it, though,’ he realized. ‘He’s been helping me to disguise what I am. He’s been using deceit to make people perceive me differently, to hide me from my fellow Arcobaleno. He’s helping me to be stronger by using deception to give me the chance I need.’

And with that, his pacifier reacted.

Tsuna had gone online and looked up actual kunai so he had something more than just a game reference to go by, or anime. That helped him to firm up the ones he was making, though they obviously lacked the wrappings. A little experimentation got them to a size that suited his hands perfectly.

He had been able to use X-Burner with either hand used for stabilization as opposed to attack, so in theory he could throw with either hand. He was a bit more awkward with his left hand, so he focused on that more heavily, to try to keep them in tandem in terms of skill. The scorch marks on the fence worked fine for a target; he could choose from various more heavily-discoloured patches. The trick would be, later on, working against a moving target. How he could manage that—? ‘I’ll figure it out later.’

Inside the Rain room he sat down to contemplate Takeshi, Colonnello, and the role of a Rain Guardian. Takeshi drove him mad with that dopey look of incomprehension and his persistent belief that it was all a mafia role-playing game. But was that really so crazy? Did Takeshi do it not realizing just how much it stressed Tsuna out, that horrible feeling that Takeshi wouldn’t take things seriously and would die because of it?

Colonnello did not immediately figure in anywhere. He was yet another anomaly to Tsuna’s perception. The man seemed cheerful enough, and if Ryohei’s reactions meant anything, encouraging enough. Perhaps his relationship with Reborn, that sort of friendly rival posturing thing they had going on, was clouding his perception. Colonnello had managed to calm Ryohei down, and that was a miracle.

Squalo was also a mystery. How was that man a Rain? Or was he yet another side of the personality that supposedly described one?

Takeshi _was_ a peacemaker. Sadly, most of them were too young for too long to be anything but raw and insecure. Hayato clashed with Takeshi almost as much as he had with Lambo. Tsuna had not helped matters often as not by freaking out so damn often. ‘I should have taken more responsibility,’ he thought. ‘Even if I only viewed them as my friends, I should have done more to keep things calmer and backed Takeshi’s efforts up when it was more than just one-on-one, because it goes both ways.’

His pacifier lit up with a wedge of blue light, so he nodded and got up in preparation of heading home.

Tsuna sighed heavily and opened the Sun door. Even then, he hesitated before entering, but eventually did, and took a seat. Ryohei, Reborn, and even Kyoko to an extent. There was also Lussuria to consider. Ryohei and Lussuria both fit what Reborn had said about a Sun Guardian in terms of fighting styles, but Reborn … not so much.

They both used their bodies as their weapons. So true, like the Sun, they could harm, but they could also heal. Sun’s power of activation was extremely useful. So maybe that was part of the puzzle there? Did exceptional reflexes count as using one’s body to attack, even with a gun?

Ryohei was so very visible, so passionate, so … extreme. Like the Sun, radiating over everything without even thinking about it. Lussuria was extravagant and flamboyant. Tsuna snorted quietly; the man had ended up with a peacock for a box weapon animal.

What was he supposed to accept about Suns, though? “This one is harder,” he muttered.

“How so?” Quince replied.

“I’m not really sure about this one. I get what that book said, but… What am I accepting? That a Sun Guardian is a front-line attacker along with a Storm, but they have the added benefit of being able to augment or heal?”

“That sounds reasonable, but it’s obviously not enough.”

‘Um, let me think… I need to understand how I as a Sky fit with a Sun? Am I supposed to be directing them? Or trusting that with a vague hand wave in the right direction they’ll do what they’re supposed to do? That I can rely on a Sun to help patch us up?’

The elephant in the room was Reborn, of course, and if he was wearing his Master PaoPao costume, it wasn’t even that insulting of a comparison. Reborn was grandiose in personality, if not size. He was like a sun shining brightly with confidence, charm … arrogance, sadism. ‘Huh, now there’s a thought. A Sun’s power is activation. Maybe it wasn’t used in the conventional sense, but in a way, if I look at it right, Reborn was trying to, well, activate me. Heal me? Certainly improve me. He just might not have been using his flames to do so, not directly, anyway. Does a Sun do that in some way for the whole family?’

His pacifier glowed, and he stared at it in disbelief. He had obviously cottoned onto something in his mental meanderings, but he remained mystified as to exactly what.

“I managed to get you access to Mafia Land,” Daemon said. “You said Skull will be back in May, correct?”

“Yeah.”

Daemon produced a piece of paper and an envelope and laid them on the table. “This has the everything you’ll need. I used fake names, of course.”

Tsuna looked at it and nodded. He was Welkin Est, and Skull was Cirrus Est. They were good to enter mid-May, right around when Skull would be visiting. “This is wonderful. Thank you,” he said, smiling at Daemon.

His friend reached into a pocket and produced an ankle chain, which he set on top of the paper. “And to help, one of these. If he’s wearing one, too, officials will either overlook you two being on your own, or automatically attach you to existing adults as dependents. You should be able to go on any rides you want, even though you probably won’t meet any height requirements—”

Tsuna made a face.

“—and order in restaurants, and so forth. All you have to do is pass along the dates during your next weekly call, so that Skull is prepared. You’re lucky, actually. Mafia Land is going to be in between Japan and South Korea, so this worked out fine. You won’t have to take a plane anywhere, just get to Fukuoka and take a ship to the island. How is your training coming along?”

“I’m doing fine with the books,” he said. “Way better than I expected to. It’s hard to believe at times that Nono really did so much damage, but I also can’t deny it. I just thought I was stupid.”

Daemon’s mouth twitched.

“But so far I’m not having any real issues. I’m finally able to go over this stuff from the start and actually understand. As for my flames, I’m making progress on an attack. I decided that X-Burner was much too flashy and over the top, so I found something better suited to my size. I need a lot of work on my aim, and even my speed, but I think it’s going well. At some point I’ll need to figure out some kind of moving targets.”

“Well, if you’re having trouble with that when the time comes, I can assist during times we’re together, using illusions. Aside from that, for something physical, some mechanical contraption—I’ll give it some thought. Or maybe Byakuran can devise something.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Care to show me this new attack you’ve come up with?”

Tsuna smiled. “Sure!” He spent the next few hours showing Daemon what he had been working on and listening to suggestions and advice. Daemon had eyed the damage to the fence with a faint smirk, but did not otherwise comment. Daemon also showed him what he meant regarding targets, which occasioned some hilarity at Tsuna’s expense given just how bad he was at hitting them.

When Saturday rolled around he sent the usual text to Skull that afternoon. His phone rang thirty seconds later and he answered with, “Ciao!”

“Ciao! How are things?”

“They’re great,” he replied. “My friend came through! I have information for a trip to that island, for when you come visit next time. We have access, and I have another present for you.”

“What dates?”

“The ship departs on the fourteenth out of Fukuoka, and we can stay for a week. It’s expensive, but the work I’ve been doing means I’ll be able to afford it.”

“Your half, you mean.”

Tsuna laughed. “Mine or both, but I’m not going to get all pushy and insist I pay for the whole thing. I have my pride and you have yours, right?”

“Right.” Skull sounded relieved. “Okay…” There was a rustling sound. “So I can arrive on Friday, which gives us plenty of time to get to the ship.”

“Yep! I already looked it up and it’ll take us about three and a half to four hours by train. So we can go, stay in a hotel overnight, then board the ship in the morning.”

“Sounds good. I’m looking forward to it,” Skull said, hints of excitement in his voice.

They spent the next half hour going over their respective weeks, though considering how little changed on a day-to-day basis, that wasn’t much. So he used some of that time to talk about what new dishes he had learned about making.

Getting Nana to agree to the trip went just as smoothly as before, which made him feel a little guilty inside at the deception. “Oh, Tsu-kun,” she said happily. “Karu-kun’s family is so nice to include you! You know, you and I should consider going on a trip, too, and taking Karu-kun with us.”

Tsuna smiled agreeably while feeling like a complete jackass inside. But, on the other hand, there was nothing really saying they could not do something like that. “I think that’d be fun.” His mother would probably continue to overlook any oddities, so was it really such an awful idea? “I’ll ask and see what he thinks.”

“Okay!” she chirped. After a decisive nod, Nana turned away to continue working on hanging the laundry. Tsuna helped by getting clothespins ready as she needed them, and by bringing one of the empty baskets back in once she was done. She gave him a happy smile inside and shooed him away to go play.

Skull arrived a few days later and sent him a text, so Tsuna got his pack ready and let his mother know he was going. She handed over a cloth-wrapped box of anpan to share and waved as he headed out. Tsuna met Skull at Byakuran’s house and double-checked that he had everything, and then they hopped on a train.

“This is going to be really fun I hope,” he said, then remembered the brochure Daemon had procured for him. He opened it and held it between them. “I’m not so sure about that roller coaster.”

“I’ve heard the safety systems are the absolute best,” Skull commented, eyeing the picture. “Can’t afford to lose any kiddies, after all. This says the place is loosely divided up into sections based on country.”

“Is that so people from all over the world would have at least something a little familiar?”

“I think so.”

“You know, since we’re so small, we can go on all the rides and no one will think it’s weird,” he said. “Though I don’t know what’s supposed to be exciting about Whirling Teacups.”

Skull hummed. “How about we go on each ride and rate them afterward?”

“Okay, but… Maybe we should start with what seems the least exciting and work our way up? That way a really cool ride doesn’t make the others seem boring in comparison.”

“Right. I like that idea.”

They spent a lot of the trip discussing what order to do the rides and having some of his mother’s anpan, and then after their arrival in Fukuoka, checked in at the hotel. They had dinner sent up by room service, not particularly wanting to eat in the dining room. Tsuna finally remembered the anklet he had for Skull and handed that over. “It’s supposed to help with preventing people from asking awkward questions.”

“Your friend is a Mist, isn’t he,” Skull said as he attacked the chain around his ankle.

Tsuna nodded. “He indirectly helped me to understand the role of a Mist in a family.”

“Have you connected with the others yet?”

“Connected, but not contacted,” he said. “I’m not ready to do that. I want to be more confident and more skilled before I try again, because—well, you took the news well, and I’m really happy about that, but what says the others would, too? So if I’m better at all this, maybe they won’t notice. I’m really glad I met you first, because I don’t have to pretend a bunch of stuff. I never feel like I’m—I feel like it’s okay that there’s a lot I don’t know. Because you won’t judge me.”

Skull’s eyes took on a distinctly watery cast. He looked away almost immediately, but Tsuna could see a tentative smile peeking out.

He decided to change the subject to alter the mood and asked, “How do you think I’d look with blue hair?”

Skull blinked a few times and tilted his head. “Blue? Why blue?”

“Because I read something about how blue and orange are opposites, and therefore pair well as colours. Brown hair is kind of boring.”

“Maybe a blue-black?” Skull said. “But it’d mean having to dye your hair on a regular basis to keep up with growth. Or—wait. Maybe not quite so dark, but you could use semi-permanent dyes to alter the colour and not have to worry about roots showing. Unfortunately, even those can be really harsh on your hair.”

“Oh. Maybe not, then. That sounds like a lot of work. Not like putting on some makeup.”

“It only takes me three minutes to do mine,” Skull said.

“That’s not so bad. Maybe you can show me at some point. Maybe I’d look interesting with some, or maybe I wouldn’t, but it’d be fun, right?”

Skull nodded. “Maybe during our next visit. I can bring some stuff along, different colour eyeliners. I don’t really use anything more than that.”

Tsuna had no idea what he would look like with the kind of makeup Skull wore, but he was willing to try, even if all he ended up doing was laughing at his reflection. It was something they could do together, and that was all that mattered to him.

The next day they spent exploring the ship. Tsuna barely remembered what the first one had been like, not with spending so much time running around in a panic trying to find people he thought were stowaways. They sat for a while and sniggered together over adults in the karaoke lounge; some of them had truly awful singing voices.

Mafia Land itself was just as amazing as he remembered, though, for all that he had only seen it in flashes or from a distance. He had a hard time getting to sleep that night because of it. His mind kept wandering back to the view off the bow and their plans for their stay.

The next morning they blended into the crowd for debarkation and followed the swell of people to the hotel, but waited patiently while the other new arrivals were getting their card keys. But eventually they were looking around a compact yet luxurious room and setting their bags down. Tsuna made sure he had the essentials—key, credit card, phone, and the brochure—and grabbed Skull’s arm to hurry him along.

The very first attraction on their list was breakfast, followed by the underwater tour. On one side of the island’s “front”, opposite the beach area, was an aquarium of sorts. Tsuna and Skull went down the stairs into the underwater viewing area and pushed up to the front where they could see better. The entire wall was clear, allowing them to see the sea life swimming around.

“I think it’s designed this way,” Skull said quietly, “so that we can’t see the island’s propulsion systems.”

Tsuna nodded and eyed the fish. As they were not all that deep down, there was still enough light from the sun filtering in to highlight the wonderful colours some fish sported, and he could clearly see how fish moved in schools. “I saw this movie not too long ago,” he confided, “called _Finding Nemo_. Looking at these fish, it’s easy to imagine they’re like people. Except for the part where they’re really tasty.”

Skull snickered. “I like fish, too, but I admit I never eat octopus.”

Tsuna shuddered. After seeing a tiny version of Oodako he didn’t think he could, either. “Yeah, that’d be way too weird. No takoyaki for me.”

Unfortunately, nothing other than fish was in the vicinity, so they soon enough got bored with watching the schools dart around and went back to the surface. “Time for the Whirling Teacups,” Skull said, glancing at the map on the brochure.

They were on the Ferris Wheel when Tsuna’s intuition fairly screamed at him in alarm. He stiffened up in surprise, never having had it react quite like that. Skull touched his arm and gave him a look of concern. “Welkin? What is it?”

“Something horrible is about to happen,” he whispered. “…S-something at home?”

Skull grimaced and grabbed his hand instead, to give it a squeeze. “Soon as we’re off the ride, we’ll go, okay? Um… Oodako can get us across the ocean. We’ll run to the hotel, get our things, and go.”

“O-okay,” he said shakily.

Twenty minutes later they were at the far end of the beach, packs on their backs, being set into place by an enlarged Oodako. Tsuna wrung his hands the entire trip, sick with anxiety. They hit the coast of Japan at approximately four o’clock and went straight to the train station to buy tickets. Luckily, there was a train due to leave in fifteen minutes.

While they waited Tsuna thought to shoot off a text to Daemon. Byakuran was in Italy, so contacting him would probably be pointless. Daemon called instead of texting back.

“What’s wrong?”

“My intuition is going haywire. We just got back to Fukuoka and we’re going to get on a train in just a few minutes. Something is really wrong at home. Are you anywhere nearby?”

“No, but I can be there within a few hours. What time will your train get in?”

Tsuna glanced at his ticket. “We get in right around eight o’clock.”

“I can be there in time to meet you, then we can go see what’s happening. All right?”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“But if I’m to be there in time, I have to get going myself. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay. Bye.” He tucked the phone away and fidgeted, wishing the train would be there sooner. They had discussed it on the way, flying instead of using normal transport. But while Skull could attempt to use Tsuna’s flame boots, he had no experience with them, and while Quince could size up and carry Tsuna, he couldn’t possibly fly faster than a train could go.

“That your Mist friend, or the other one?” Skull asked.

“Mist. C’mon, train. I know it’s going to be hours yet, but I can’t help but—”

“I know,” Skull said softly. “I wish there was more I could do. But even if I had my airship right here, we still couldn’t get there any faster. The only ones who could would be the Vindice, and somehow I don’t think they have a telephone, or would be willing to be used as a taxi service.”

Tsuna laughed a bit hysterically and nodded.

Close to four hours later they emerged from the train; Tsuna was feeling utterly frazzled, not to mention exhausted. Daemon was there, but in a disguise. Tsuna only recognized him due to the eyes, though it was possible that Skull could not see them the same way.

“There you are, good,” Daemon said. “Introductions later. Let’s go.” He led them to a car and ushered them inside, then began driving. “I’ll park a street away, and I’m also putting illusion disguises on you two. We have no idea what we’re walking into, after all, though the darkness will help as much as it might hinder.”

Tsuna nodded.

There was a car outside the house, not quite a limousine, but it may as well have been one. All the lights were on downstairs. “Do you recognize that car?” Daemon whispered.

“No. Well, maybe? I’m not sure.”

“Okay, stay here for a minute. I’m going to sneak in close and take a look.”

Tsuna badly wanted to ignore that and just rush on in, but he had learned something about caution, so he nodded and bit his lip as Daemon skulked off in the shadows. Skull edged a little closer and grabbed his hand again, giving it a squeeze.

What seemed like hours later Daemon returned with a frightening look on his face. “We need to go. I’ll explain at the other house.”

“But—”

“Tsuna,” Daemon said sharply. “Trust me on this.”

He exhaled heavily and turned away. After another short car ride they were in Byakuran’s house. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Daemon said slowly. “First, your father and Nono are in there.”

Tsuna grimaced. “And?”

Daemon glanced at Skull, then looked back at Tsuna. “Your mother … has been murdered.”


	3. 03: 2006-2007

He felt like the bottom had just dropped out of his world. His sight blurred and he felt as though he’d been dunked in ice water and boiling water simultaneously. “What?” he whispered. “No. No, that can’t be right. I was only just—no.”

Daemon knelt down in front of him. “I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“No. No! What the hell happened!?” he screamed. “How could this happen!?”

Daemon put his hands on Tsuna’s shoulders. “From what I overheard, it was Estraneo. They wanted to—”

Everything went black.

He slowly rose up from the depths, and could hear Daemon speaking as if from meters away, or from underwater. “They wanted to experiment on him so they could later use him against Vongola. I have no idea yet how they found out about him. But since he wasn’t here, they went after his mother for information on his whereabouts. And, while Iemitsu and Nono showed up, they didn’t arrive in time to prevent Nana’s death. They know Estraneo is behind this, so we can expect a purge, and the Vindice probably won’t get involved.”

“I—I’m stunned,” he heard Skull say. “Is it even safe for him to stay in this town?”

“It might be better to take him elsewhere. The materials in this house can be packed up—the books, the computer—and brought along. But he has to agree to it. I’d prefer he be elsewhere, because I expect Iemitsu will have people crawling all over this town to keep an eye out for him. I’m fairly certain he would have told you about—”

“Yeah,” Skull interrupted. “He did.”

He realized he was on a bed or couch, covered in a blanket. He felt numb. Everything was unreal except for the fabric against his cheek. He had been making such progress on his relationship with his mother, and now she was—?

“I think Welkin is awake,” Skull said quietly. “He’s crying.”

He was crying, he realized. And with that realization came heaving sobs of agony. Someone—Daemon—picked him up and cradled him in a hug. “I understand,” Daemon whispered.

Tsuna knew he must. Elena’s death had driven him to madness. He exhausted himself crying out his pain and disbelief, and slipped back into unconsciousness within Daemon’s arms.

When he next woke it was to Daemon and Skull quietly conversing, but Daemon noticed almost the second he found awareness again. “Tsuna,” he said softly. “We’ve been discussing some possible options. Would you like to hear them?”

‘I might as well,’ he thought dully, and nodded.

“Vongola mafiosi are probably going to be crawling all over Namimori for the foreseeable future, trying to find you. While you would be able to leave this house and not be a prisoner due to that anklet, your intuition would probably be constantly triggering. Skull has offered his airship as a home for you—certainly until we all have a better understanding of what will be the fallout of this situation.” Daemon paused.

Tsuna nodded slightly and pulled himself up into a sitting position. Staying in Namimori meant a lot of things, such as flipping out every time he went near his house, dodging who knew how many Vongola, and having people wonder, even if only vaguely due to the anklet, what he was doing on his own. Staying someplace new would probably be for the best. “Okay,” he said quietly. “The only reason I stayed here was—” He swallowed heavily and looked down. He felt both numb and likely to fall apart at any second.

Daemon nodded. “I can charter a plane to get us all to Italy as quickly as possible. That would be the last place anyone would think to look for you, if nothing else. It would also place me in a position to spy out the landscape and see what happens.”

“I notice he’s not saying their name,” Quince commented.

Tsuna twitched in denial of even thinking about that murderous family, but knew he would have to. It was unavoidable.

“Are you comfortable with this plan?” Daemon persisted, but gently.

“Yes.” After a minuscule pause he continued, “I trust you to make the arrangements. We probably shouldn’t waste time.”

“All right. I’ll get started, then. Skull…”

“I’ll be right here,” Skull said.

Daemon got up and moved close enough to rest a hand on Tsuna’s shoulder briefly, squeezed gently, then hastened off. Skull went to sit next to Tsuna on the sofa, and Tsuna leaned sideways to rest against him. “You’re sure it’s all right?” Tsuna asked, “Me living in your airship with you?”

“Yes. I will always be there when you need me, Tsuna,” Skull promised.

Tsuna felt the strangest sensation blossom in his chest, a kind of warmth to hold back the cold reality he had raced back to find. Or at least make it not quite so bleak.

The airship was pretty cool, all told. Everything was sized for an Arcobaleno. And while it was in no way fancy, it had everything a person could need, assuming they were not especially attached to things. A person who liked lots of souvenirs or collectibles would be in horror of how little space there was for things of that nature, but there was plenty of room for books in the shallow built-in shelves, beds that flipped up against the wall when not in use, and cleverly-designed storage options for other necessities.

“I like it,” he said, poking his head into the facilities. There was even an Arcobaleno-sized shower. No soaking tub, though.

Skull smiled at him and ushered him over to a little table in the “kitchen” area. He busied himself for a minute unloading some groceries, then brought some juice and fruit over. Quince made that chortling sound and dropped down to the table long enough to grab a date from the offerings and carry it off to be eaten.

Tsuna managed a tired smile before pulling a juice bottle closer and removing the cap. Daemon had disappeared as soon as they got to where Skull had secured his airship and would return at some point with information regarding both Vongola and Estraneo. He could not help but wonder what would happen to people like Mukuro, Joshima, and Kakimoto.

Things were already so different—they had to be if Estraneo had done something so … outrageous. Were those three even still alive? Unharmed? About to be killed as collateral damage by the Vongola? Living, to be rescued and placed with new families, before they had been driven to madness? Would the threat of Possession Bullets finally be laid to rest? How much of what he knew from before could be applied?

Halfway through the bottle he reached out to grab a cluster of grapes and eat them slowly. He had not had much of an appetite. Or rather, he recognized that he was hungry, but felt no particular impetus to eat. He was thankful that Skull was always nearby, and that he was not hovering or being pushy in any way.

Speaking of Skull, Tsuna noticed that his friend had flipped down one of the two beds and was putting fresh linens on it, as well as a new case on the pillow sitting in the wall niche behind. A blanket was procured from one of the storage bins built into the floor and placed as well. “It’s not much,” Skull said deprecatingly.

“I like it,” he repeated. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about much of anything right now, but I like it, this place. And it’s so different. At some point I’ll have to find a house, I guess.”

“You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like,” Skull said promptly, moving to take care of refreshing the second bed.

Tsuna believed him, but at the same time knew it would probably be something of a mistake. In his eyes the airship was Skull’s way of drifting, and to have a second person there underfoot all the time lessened the value of it. But he also believed that he could visit on a regular basis and it would be fine. “I know,” he said, “but surely there will be times when you need to do a job and… I think a house is a good idea. A home base.”

Skull’s reply was an almost equal mix to Tsuna’s ears of relief and worry. “I see your point. We can sit down with a map and highlight the various territories—if you choose to live in Italy, that is—so that we know you wouldn’t be staying someplace … bad. Neutral territory sounds best at first glance, but that also means anyone could move in or through and cause problems. Maybe hiding right under the noses of friendlies would make more sense. The alternate is that later on we can find a town in Japan, so you would at least be in a familiar culture.”

Tsuna contemplated that as he slowly ate grapes. Being in Japan was of course familiar, but he had spent a fair amount of time in Italy, as well, as an adult and as Decimo. His father would probably—well, that was a good question. Who was to say anyone aside from—that anyone knew he was allegedly on a trip with “Karu-kun”? Would his father use Vongola resources to scour Japan looking for him, or assume that Estraneo had taken him to their base in Italy?

“Daemon will probably be able to figure out which makes more sense,” Skull said. “But we won’t know until he has news to share with us.”

Living in Japan would probably—maybe?—help him to come to terms with… Or maybe it wouldn’t. Living in Italy had its own risks, unfortunately.

“Your mother is dead,” Quince said.

Tsuna twitched again and squashed a grape between his fingers, the juicy insides oozing out. “You don’t pull punches, do you?”

“I don’t want you retreating into denial.”

“People are supposed to deal with grief in their own personal way,” he complained.

“I agree,” Quince said affably. “And if you want some time with it before you actually erupt, so be it. But I’m not going to let you slide off into denial. Preferably, you’ll get a house somewhere as soon as possible—Byakuran could probably lend you one—and you can blow up in a spectacular fashion and express some of that rage I sense stewing inside you.”

“Blowing up isn’t going to make her not be dead,” he said flatly.

“No, it won’t, but it will allow you to express what you’re feeling. I’ll bet you already feel guilty for feeling angry.”

Tsuna sighed and wiped his hand off. He did. He felt devastated and numb and furious. He wanted to sob all over someone’s shoulder again while simultaneously screaming at them or throwing things. He wanted to visit Estraneo and fry every scientist there. It wasn’t fair! He felt cheated and guilty and selfish. But not alone. That puff of warmth in his chest kept him from feeling abandoned or adrift.

His phone chirped, alerting him to a text. A quick look showed it was Byakuran, and Daemon had obviously filled him in. He did not feel like actually speaking, so he sent one back: yes. with skull right now.

Byakuran: i have a house you can use, in gesso territory. portici, right outside naples. you can rage there.

Tsuna: sounds good. i don’t want to impose too much on skull’s privacy.

Byakuran: you’re so sweet, tsu-kun. i’ll get right on it. later~!

He sighed and tucked his phone away. “A house is being arranged.”

“So quickly?” Skull shot him a surprised look.

“Yeah. My friend. It should be safe enough.”

Skull nodded slowly and flipped the bed back up and secured it.

Daemon found something very interesting when Vongola went on a rampage. The boy whose body he had temporarily stolen in another life was alive, but his soul was gone, trapped in hell or some other plane of existence. The Estraneo scientists in this dimension were far more cruel and driven to recoup their losses from having been ostracized and nearly wiped out by other families over their invention of the Possession Bullet.

Mukuro—for he had no other name to use aside from the one the boy had given himself—was their very best option for a comeback and they had ruthlessly experimented on him with increased fervor and zeal. Daemon saw an opportunity and took it.

Vongola swept the Estraneo compound and killed everyone who moved in retribution for the death of one of their own and the presumed kidnapping of a bloodline Vongola. When they finally reached the science ward they found the children, most of whom were already dead, still in cages. Tsuna was nowhere to be found, of course, but Mukuro was strapped down to a table, still just barely breathing.

‘That body,’ he thought, ‘can give me back my full power, and he’s already gone.’ He used his illusionary spy to watch as Vongola mafiosi undid the straps holding the child down. From their speech it was plain they assumed the boy was another victim like Tsuna was meant to be, but with no real visible signs of damage they were unsure what to do with him.

Daemon cloaked the boy’s form in a seeming of death and waited until they had turned away. Some of the men looked upset, some disgusted, and some regretful, but they all departed to continue sweeping the building. Only after it was safe did Daemon go in personally to acquire the disensouled body and spirit it away to safety.

The first thing he did was send a quick text to Byakuran about Vongola’s actions. Then he set the phone down and discarded the body he had been wearing, so he could claim Mukuro’s as his own. It took an agonizingly long time before he settled in properly, but eventually he was able to sit up, and laugh. “It feels so amazing,” he rasped. The vocal chords of his new body were a bit abused, but that would heal, especially with a soul in charge again, powering the body beyond simple autonomic functions. Byakuran would probably—and on that thought, he reached over to check the phone.

Byakuran: just texted him. will set up a house in portici.

He nodded and dialed. When Byakuran picked up he said, “Ciao.”

“…You sound different. Younger. Raspier.”

He chuckled. “Yes, a fortuitous occurrence. Where can we meet?”

The next day he was in Portici, at the address provided by Byakuran. The white-haired ex-villain’s brows rose up in surprise on seeing him, but he was ushered in without immediate comment. The moment the door was closed, however…

“What happened? You look like—”

“Mukuro, yes,” he said, smiling. “As I said, a fortuitous encounter.” He filled Byakuran in on Vongola activities at Estraneo, then said, “I’ve no idea where Mukuro’s soul is, but it wasn’t attached to the body any longer. That much I could tell. So why not take it? With this body I have my full power back and can be that much more effective.”

Byakuran tilted his head to the side, then nodded. “Right,” he chirped. “And with Mist Flames, you can fake being adult. Mukuro looked ridiculously like a younger you, anyway. So, all right, Vongola has wiped out Estraneo. Couldn’t happen to a nicer family.”

“After Vongola left I went through the building myself, destroying anything questionable. So, even if they go back—perhaps to convert the compound for their own use—they shouldn’t find anything that some fool could be corrupted by. I doubt that Nono would be tempted, but someone lower down might be.”

Byakuran nodded. “You think Tsuna will be all right here?”

“Yes. I assume you’ve chosen it because it’s got room for him to fall apart?”

“Yep! And it’s still fairly close to the shops, so it should be the best of both worlds in that respect. I suggest, however, if you go personally to get Tsuna, that you cloak yourself in illusion. He might flip out if a child Mukuro showed up on his doorstep.”

Daemon flashed a sarcastic smile. “Yes, I had planned to. He’s already had enough of a shock. I admit, I feel some tiny sliver of empathy for Iemitsu, but…”

“Elena knew, though. Nana was clueless and mushroomed, and not protected well enough,” Byakuran said snidely.

“Yes. That difference alone is enough.”

Tsuna was busy staring at a wall when Daemon arrived at the airship, but his intuition kicked in and he shortly found himself eyeing Daemon, trying to figure out what was different. He was about to inquire, but realized that perhaps bringing the subject up in front of Skull was not the best idea. “Ciao, Daemon,” he instead said.

“Tsuna. The house is ready, so whenever you’d like to set up there, I can take you.”

He turned to Skull and said, “You’ll come, too, right? So you know where I am? And you’ll be just as welcome there always, as I am here.”

“Of course,” Skull replied softly. “We can set out in the morning…” He trailed off, eyeing the two Arcobaleno-sized beds.

Daemon shook his head. “Not an issue. I will simply stay at a hotel overnight.”

Skull looked embarrassed for a moment, but quickly recovered and offered refreshments.

Once they were all seated at the table Tsuna said, “Any news?”

“Vongola swept through the Estraneo compound like a plague of locusts. Unfortunately, none of the children they were experimenting on survived.”

Tsuna looked down. ‘I don’t know how to feel,’ he thought. ‘Mukuro scared me. So did his two … friends. But…’

“Either the scientists panicked and killed them personally to ensure no one else could get their hands on any of it, or walking away from them to confront the intruders resulted in their deaths, as the scientists were not there to monitor them. I went through the place myself after Vongola left.”

Tsuna looked up sharply and saw Daemon nod slightly. ‘So he made sure any Possession Bullets were destroyed, I hope, and any notes regarding their manufacture. I just hope none of the Vongola mafiosi found any of it during the massacre and walked away with it.’

“A thorough sweep,” Daemon added.

‘I swear, he’s reading my mind,’ he complained. ‘It doesn’t change what happened, but it’s good to know they’ve been stopped. They can’t torture any more of their children.’ He realized he was crying again when water splashed the table’s surface and reached up to angrily dash away the tears. ‘Am I crying for me? For my mother? For Mukuro and his friends? And here I am embarrassing myself again by crying in front of other people.’

He slipped off his chair and ducked into the bathroom, the only place of privacy on the airship aside from where Skull’s motorcycle was parked when not in use. Tsuna blew his nose and splashed his face with cold water, then took a deep breath and emerged. To say thanks to his mother for her teaching he was going to make dinner for them.

Skull was called away by a client not long after they arrived at the house in Portici, which was both good and bad in Tsuna’s opinion. He wasn’t quite ready to let go of his friend, but he also wanted to speak freely with Daemon. But before he had to leave they were able to investigate the house, which had a surprising number of bedrooms on the first floor and plenty of living space on the ground floor. The kitchen was fully stocked and there was a convenient stepstool available so that Tsuna could actually cook for himself more easily.

“You did something, found something…” he said, once they were alone.

Daemon smirked at him. Moments later he reduced in size and age.

Tsuna gawked at the face before him. “What happened?”

“The only body left alive was this one,” Daemon said simply.

He knew the statement was more loaded than it sounded. “I remember, Mukuro said he’d been to Hades six times. Did he—did he not make it back this time?”

Daemon shrugged. “I can only assume so. When I found the body it was still breathing, it still lived, but the soul was missing.”

Tsuna didn’t bother to question that assessment. Daemon knew he had been worried about Mukuro; he sincerely doubted the man would up and kill him just to have a different body. But then he remembered—“Oh, so you can access your full power again, huh. Does that mean…” His gaze dropped down to his knees for a moment.

“I never saw it in the past, but you are so very much like Elena,” Daemon said, his expression curiously blank. “I’m not going anywhere, Tsuna. I may not always be right there standing next to you, but I absolutely will not abandon you.”

He felt that warmth blossom in his chest again. Did he feel that because he truly believed them? When Skull had said much the same, and when Daemon had just then?

Daemon sighed and reached out to pat Tsuna’s tiny hand. “That was harmonization.”

“What?” That comforting sensation of warmth that never left him was a proper bond? He had never felt that before. His mouth dropped open slightly at the realization that he and his friends from his original dimension had never really connected meaningfully. “Was I really that pathetic?” he whispered, the sound of his words hitching in his throat.

Daemon sighed again. “Tsuna, there’s every possibility that you spent so much time avoiding anything dealing with the mafia that you were incapable of harmonizing.”

“But I ended up being Decimo!”

“So? You never wanted it, or guardians. You never understood what any of it meant, right? You met, uh, Gokudera, knew he was mafia, and immediately shunted him off to the side in your head. Maybe you went and did things together and had fun, but you never allowed yourself to really get close, because that would have been getting too comfortable with a mafioso. The same with the others. Friends? Perhaps. But not guardians, and not harmonized. And even then, you all did so well.”

‘I couldn’t even accept them as real friends?’ he wondered. “Did the sealing have anything to do with it, or was it really me being in denial so much?”

Daemon shrugged. “I’m trying to remember those who were sealed back then. The thing is, none of them were ever unsealed and they were kept away from the mafia, so they were never given the chance to attempt harmonization. I don’t know. It’s possible the sealing adversely affected your ability, but I can’t say that with any surety.”

‘That’s a delicate way of putting it,’ he thought. To get his mind off his previous ineptitude, he said, “You said the anklet will keep me from being noticed by Nono and … him. You’re a really strong Mist, so…”

“It should still hold up against another Mist,” Daemon replied.

“What’s it like to kill someone?” he heard himself ask.

Daemon gave him a searching look. “It depends on what’s running through your head when you do it. But even if you think they deserve it, it’s still possible to feel guilt for taking a life, or regret. You killed Byakuran, Tsuna, remember? You didn’t do it for yourself so much as for everyone that Byakuran hurt or killed, for Yuni, your friends, and the Arcobaleno. Do you regret it?”

He shook his head. “It made him human again. But that is kind of a special case.”

“True. You still killed. So the question is not about what’s it like to kill someone, but rather what it’s like to kill a specific person. I killed many people as Primo’s Mist Guardian, but we had a purpose and a cause. For an assassin that cause might be money, or it might be getting madmen off the streets and the money is a welcome bonus.”

He had to admit that the police would have serious trouble pinning blame on a flame-using criminal or even a regular mafioso. How could you possibly handle someone like Daemon or Mammon with their varied and so very realistic illusions? Or a person who could disintegrate any prison you tried to put them in? For all that he had preferred never to think about it, the presence of the Vindice showed that the mafia had its own form of law, and structure.

Were warring famiglie all that much different from warring states? Was it better for a group of criminals to be organized and actually try to maintain some kind of order, as opposed to the anarchy of individuals all out simply for themselves? ‘Or am I rationalizing this? Estraneo killed my mother. I want to kill them in kind. Except, of course, they’re dead already.’ He suddenly felt so tired. “I’m going to rest for a bit.”

Daemon nodded. “I’ll be around here somewhere, but if I don’t respond it’s because my attention is with one of my spies.”

Over the next several weeks Tsuna spent a lot of time destroying things with his kunai. As a result, his aim got a whole lot better. It did not, in particular, cool his anger, but it served to keep him on an even keel and prevent him from snapping at anyone. Daemon helped him out from time to time with illusionary targets that moved around fluidly. Even so, he was beginning to have some peculiar thoughts.

Casting his memory back to that day so long ago at Kokuyo, to when Kakimoto and Joshima had lain there, broken and defeated, and still defended Mukuro, and even Estraneo, baffled him. Estraneo had come up with something so powerful, so horrifying, it was no wonder other famiglie had tried to keep them penned in or pick them off one by one. But Joshima and Kakimoto blamed outsiders for driving Estraneo to higher heights of depravity.

Why were they so unwilling to blame Estraneo? Because they were blood family? ‘I don’t understand,’ he thought, nailing a target with two kunai in a row. ‘I blame my father all the time for his idiocy. He never tortured me the way Estraneo did its children, but… Maybe I’ll never understand. But I’m starting to understand how someone could be a hitman.’

Naturally that brought Reborn to mind, but for him—? ‘I wonder if he just liked the adulation. Maybe the challenge? Maybe something in his past made him want to—’ The idea of Reborn being a White Knight made him break out into a giggling fit. ‘Why on Earth did he ever turn to tutoring?’ he wondered. ‘Did he master all the challenges of being a hitman and wanted a change of pace? Or maybe he wanted a different way to be sadistic. What is wrong with me that I think about him so often?’

“Maybe you’d prefer him for a father figure?” Daemon asked, scaring the wits out of Tsuna, who had been so absorbed he’d had no idea he’d been anywhere nearby.

He clutched at his heart and glared at his Mist Guardian, then widened his eyes. “A father?”

“He at least would tell you when you did a good job, I assume.”

“Yes,” he admitted, “but he also bullied me a lot.”

“Bullied you,” Daemon repeated, coming to sit down. “All right. Bullied you? Or was he trying very hard to push you past the damage Nono caused? We don’t actually know if Reborn was aware of the ramifications of sealing or if he was even told it’d been done.”

He frowned. “So he may have thought I really was that pathetic and lazy. No wonder he used to get frustrated, or seemed so gleeful when he had an excuse to explode something in my face.”

“That’s assuming he didn’t know,” Daemon pointed out.

“He seemed to respect Nono a lot, so maybe he didn’t. Because if he did and he still acted like that, I kind of think he was taking his frustration out on me, then.”

“I’m going to assume you care about his opinion.”

“Well, yes. I can’t imagine he’s too much dif—actually, is he different?” Daemon would know, right?

“Not that I can tell.”

‘And that was both informative and useless,’ he thought. ‘After all, Byakuran didn’t see anything particularly odd, and yet… So what does that mean to me? Is that right? I keep thinking about Reborn because I want his approval? Because he was more of a father to me than mine ever was?’ He shook his head slightly. ‘I think I prefer the idea of an older brother.’

Daemon shrugged, and Tsuna wondered how much Daemon was “reading” and how much he was inadvertently saying out loud. “If you want him to approve, well…”

‘Approve? How could I possibly do that?’ he wondered.

Skull returned for a visit and was much impressed by his increase in accuracy.

“Daemon has helped a lot with that,” he said. “And even if it doesn’t help my mood, exactly, it still helps. I think I’d go crazy without…”

Skull nodded. “Sometimes… I used to think that Death itself hated me. I healed from just about anything, you know? It’s not like I wanted to die or anything, but I couldn’t help but think … what about when I’m old?” He laughed jerkily.

“And now we’re this.”

“Yeah. I can still do it, heal super quick.”

“A blessing and a curse, rolled into one,” he observed grimly.

Skull gave him a startled look, then nodded.

Someone unscrupulous could find out, and use that to torture someone in Skull’s position endlessly. And all that might be left in the end was the broken ravings of madness. He felt a bit mad himself, but something about seeing Skull again made an idea come to mind. “You said … you don’t really like doing hits.”

“Right.” Skull looked at him oddly, as if trying to divine what was in his head.

“But you do spying and stuff.”

“Yes.”

“What if we started an information brokering … business?”

“…Preferably not helping the kind of people who weren’t linked to Mafia Land.”

‘Well, he doesn’t seem to be against the idea, so it can’t be too crazy, right?’ “Not the ones who deal in…” Tsuna wrinkled his nose. “Right. You would still be involved, but not having to feel you had to do things you didn’t care for.”

Skull looked a little lost at first, but nodded despite that. “So, what? You, uh, send Daemon off to gather information about who might need information, so we can get it and then offer to sell it to them?”

“Exactly,” he said with a firm nod. “We’re involved, because we kind of have to be involved, but we aren’t doing anything we aren’t comfortable with. And if we gain a reputation, people will take us seriously and actually come to us. We’d just have to turn away anyone … you know. Like Estraneo.”

“And be clever enough to avoid those same people when they inevitably come looking because we won’t play nicely with them,” Daemon said from the doorway. “And yes, I can certainly help with that. I think it’s an interesting idea, Tsuna. So, step one is for me to go do some digging, and we can dig ourselves a place in this world.”

Tsuna looked up in surprise when Skull set a slice of cheesecake on his desk. Raspberries had been used to make a small smiley face on the top, while a sauce of the same was drizzled down the edges. “What’s this?” he asked in confusion.

Skull produced two more plates, three forks, and took a seat as Daemon appeared and also took one. “It’s your birthday,” he said with affectionate exasperation.

He blinked and scratched the back of his neck. Apparently grief had a funny way of totally upending your sense of balance and time in the world. “I’m six?”

Daemon nodded. “In case you’re having trouble here, that means you set aside the paperwork for a while and attempt to enjoy yourself.”

He sighed and shuffled his paperwork into one of the top drawers, then dutifully took up his fork. A quick strike down nipped the end off the slice and the fork made its way to his mouth. He paused on tasting just how creamy and delicious the cake was, then quickly resumed eating. After a few bites he said, “Thank you. Dare I hope that my present is finding out that that man got drunk again and ended up with tattoos all over his face, or no hair, or…?”

Daemon snorted softly. “Unfortunately, no.”

Aside from Iemitsu using Vongola resources to scour Japan in a panic—and to some extent, Italy, simply because Estraneo had been based there—there had been little of note heard from that sector. Nono might have been concerned for the emotional and mental well-being of his External Advisor, and his missing blood family member, but that did not translate to losing his head, in a panic, like that man.

Tsuna could not decide if Iemitsu was panicked because part of him genuinely cared for his son, or if it was all just as abstract as before. He shook his head and concentrated on his food, humming happily as the taste of sweetened cheese and raspberries hit his tongue again.

“A meeting has been called,” Skull said, eyeing him carefully. “Reborn sent out messages to the Arcobaleno.”

His fork paused halfway to his mouth as he took that in. “At the spring?”

Skull nodded. “He seems concerned that it’s been a year and none of us have run into you, so he wants to meet to talk about it.”

“Do you think any of them would notice if I were to peek in on you during that?” he asked.

Skull’s lips pursed in thought, then he shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe not, because it’s a targeted connection to a realized bond.”

“It’s also possible that Skull’s anklet will help keep it confined,” Daemon pointed out.

“When is it?”

“The first of November. That gives everyone some time to arrange things. The message came in this morning.”

Tsuna had another few bites before he said, “Are you okay with going? Daemon could try to spy if you’re not.”

Skull gave him a quick smile. “It’s fine. It’d look suspicious if I wasn’t there. Besides, me being there gives you the chance to spy directly in addition to anything Daemon can manage, especially since you seem to be able to hear everything now. That gives us two or three different perspectives to work with.”

“Makes sense, and I see your point,” he replied, realizing that Skull was correct. If he did not go, the others might find that odd given the situation, especially since it had been Reborn instigating the meeting. He ate the last of his cheesecake and set the fork down with a sigh of mingled pleasure and regret; it had been very tasty.

A little over two weeks later he and Daemon were settled into comfortable chairs, both of them spying, using Skull as their anchor point. If nothing else, it allowed both of them to know exactly how to reach the Pacifier Spring. Their friend got there first which, after a moment of reflection, was probably what Skull had been going for. After all, Reborn and Colonnello seemed to think Skull was their lackey, so it made sense for him to be there early, as a reflection of his alleged position in the group.

He shook his head slightly. If he ever did harmonize with those two he would have to be creative when it came to enforcing the idea that Skull’s only true master was Skull. He was intensely grateful that Skull and Daemon did not expect him to make every decision, but they would listen when he suggested things, and that they suggested things themselves. They were a team, and they respected each other. It did, unfortunately, leave him with a lingering sense of regret for his past.

If nothing else, this second chance had given him a chance to grow as a person, especially knowing his lifespan was artificially limited. He was more understanding and compassionate, far less lost, and more likely to be assertive. He was technically in charge of their team, but he did not feel intimidated by their greater experience, and they did not treat him condescendingly for his relative lack of it.

Fon arrived next, slipping into a spot around the spring between one moment and the next. “Ciao, Skull,” he said in a calm and somewhat kindly manner.

Skull nodded. “Fon. I hope things have been well.”

“Yes, thank you. And you?”

Skull tilted his head contemplatively for a few seconds before replying, “Yes.” Then he added, “I’ve been able to avoid taking on any hits this past year.”

Fon nodded and produced a faint, serene smile. “I am pleased for your sake.”

Tsuna’s brow went up. What an interesting response. Fon and Skull might not be in any way close, but he did appear to respect Skull’s aversion to killing. Any further conversation was delayed as a bickering Reborn and Colonnello arrived.

“I don’t think that—”

Reborn interrupted with a scoff. “You do your thinking with anti-tank weaponry. Not a lot of room there for depth.”

Colonnello scowled and reached over to thump Reborn, though his attack was easily dodged. “You and your prissy insistence on finesse and elegance!”

“Considering how many more of the fairer sex I have enjoyed the company of…” Reborn trailed off with a smug smirk.

Colonnello growled.

Tsuna had to wonder if it was a dig at the blond’s “relationship” with Lal Mirch, or rather, the constant holding pattern those two had been in until after the—he frowned, reminded that he _knew_ he’d forgotten something important, but had no idea what it was or what it was connected to.

Daemon gave him a sidelong look, but quickly returned to fixing a distant, unfocused gaze on the wall.

“After all,” Reborn was saying, “you’d think you’d have gotten somewhere by now, after all these years.”

Colonnello half-heartedly fired on Reborn. “That’s a perverted thought, in these forms.”

Reborn fired back, not appearing to in any way aim, and yet the bullet flew past Colonnello’s face after the man tilted his head slightly. “Ciaossu, Fon.”

Fon sent a faint smile Reborn’s way and nodded, then nodded at a scowling Colonnello.

Tsuna frowned when Skull was not acknowledged, but he could tell by his Cloud’s body language that Skull was feeling more boredom than anxiety. Colonnello was sulking and Reborn was impatient. It was only once Verde, Mammon, and Lal finally arrived that Reborn got things started.

Skull watched the proceedings with more of a mind to study his fellow Arcobaleno rather than pay strict attention to what they were saying. After all, at least two of them would assume he was too lacking to properly participate. Wearing his helmet helped to mask any facial expressions he did not manage to smother.

Fon, at least, maintained a distant sort of kindness toward him. Mammon could not be bothered unless large quantities of money were involved. Verde might eye him up with a mind to experiment, but the Arcobaleno Code should prevent more than simple thoughts.

The original unease and prickliness Tsuna’s peeking in on him caused had transmuted into a sense of enveloping warmth and affection and, insofar as he could tell, no one else could sense Tsuna’s presence. For that matter, no one seemed to be aware of Daemon’s spy. It had ridden along with Skull and then settled itself in a nearby tree.

What he did gather from the meeting was that no one had any information aside from acknowledging that they had not seen, heard mention of, or met the Sky Arcobaleno. Also, Fon sent the occasional, fleeting, sidelong glance his way. Hopefully Tsuna and Daemon would have better insight on those moments from their perspectives.

By the time the meeting broke up he had not spoken a word beyond that of those to Fon, and was the last to leave.

“Well, that accomplished very little,” he said dryly.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Daemon replied. “None of them aside from Fon seemed to notice anything off about Skull, for one.”

“True.”

“Fon was the only one to give Skull anything resembling respect,” Daemon added.

“Also true,” he said. “I noticed that and it made me curious about Fon. It’s not like I spent a lot of time around him before, but seeing him again…”

“Perhaps he should be the next one for you to look in on?”

“Perhaps, yes. Is he actually a part of the Triads, or just connected in some way to them?”

“He’s associated with them, but not as a proper member of that society. He has ties in Japan—with Kyoya, in case you weren’t aware—even though he himself is Chinese.”

Tsuna got halfway through a nod before his brain cramped. “Wait, what? Hibari-san?”

Daemon smirked at him. “He is Kyoya’s maternal grandfather’s brother.”

His eyes crossed, but the nod finally completed. “Wow,” he said softly. “I mean, they do look a lot alike…” And having seen Kyoya in Namimori and Fon just recently, he could definitely picture the resemblance. Either way, Fon seemed the most receptive to Skull, or at least the most polite, which was a good thing.

He and Daemon repaired to the kitchen for something to eat, then to the office so they could go over the information requests. His Mist’s efforts had borne ripe fruit for Tsuna’s idea of becoming information brokers. Requests were starting to slowly trickle in once word got around, and since there were so few Mists out there even close to Daemon’s level of power and experience, finding them physically was next to impossible.

It was a start. It also gave weaker families someone to contact to get a helping hand, so long as they could pay the fees. Any family on the wrong side of the line was dealt with by Daemon in a non-violent manner. No sense getting the Vindice involved, after all. How, exactly, his Mist was accomplishing that, he had not bothered to ask. He trusted Daemon, and he was not yet of a mind to broach that conundrum.

“How do you think Fon would react to being spied on? I mean, he’s a Storm and all.”

Daemon shrugged. “He’s also very centered. I don’t know that he would take it as some form of attack, though I expect it would intrigue him. Not sure he would come to the same result as Skull did.”

“The note,” he said, nodding, “and the phone.”

“Well, I can find out where his bolt-hole is,” Daemon assured him. “The spy from the meeting is following him even as we speak.”

Tsuna scowled. More evidence that his friends knew his mind better than he did himself. “Then I should probably wait a few days before I try.”

“Preferably. And I would prefer your attempts do not occur while he’s in his place of safety, if possible.”

He rolled his eyes. “And not on a job or around Triads or driving some kind of vehicle…”

Daemon gave him a sarcastic smile and nodded. “Yes.”

It wasn’t until Skull returned that the subject came up again, with Tsuna asking his Cloud his opinion. Skull’s brow shot up before he said, “Fon has always been the warmest of the lot. I don’t think he’d flip out if you peeked in on him, but it would probably make him as twitchy as it did me.”

Tsuna nodded. “Well, when Daemon says he’s in a good place for that, I’ll give it a shot. Either he’ll have a similar idea as yours, or perhaps Daemon can send an illusion to drop off a message.”

Skull eyed his fellow guardian. “Considering how solid some of those are…”

When Tsuna got the go ahead from Daemon he settled into his comfortable chair and closed his eyes for this first attempt, his hands coming up to cradle his pacifier. Fon went eerily still, then a barely perceptible haze of Storm Flame emanated from him. Tsuna nodded to himself; Hibari and Gokudera had been capable of using their flames as a form of radar. Unfortunately for Fon, he would not find anything.

The slightest of creases marred Fon’s otherwise smooth brow after thirty seconds and his eyes went a bit squinty. Tsuna giggled quietly to himself as he watched, but quickly enough sobered up. Thirty seconds later he released his pacifier and opened his eyes, content for the moment. China was seven hours ahead of Italy, so he would continue to peek in during the morning every few days.

The next time he checked in Fon again went still and sent out another pulse of flames. As before, his brow creased slightly, but that time he started moving away from the point of origin and into a nearby building. The squinty eyes came back once Fon realized that being tucked away behind walls did not cause the sensation to abate.

Tsuna was impressed once he figured out what Fon was testing, not only with the tactic, but with his own understanding. Unfortunately, aside from moving deeper inside the building, Fon did nothing of note, so Tsuna released his hold and opened his eyes.

The next time he tried he could see nothing whatsoever. ‘Oh, you are clever,’ he thought. Fon had to be in a closed room with no light sources. And apparently, his infravision did not work while peeking. ‘A shame, but it will still tell Fon something, right?’ When he eventually released the connection, Daemon was sitting on the edge of the desk, an eyebrow quirked at him.

“Completely dark room this time.”

Daemon smirked in appreciation. “Given any thought to a letter you might send?”

He opened a drawer and fished out a draft, which he handed to his Mist. It was simple enough, just a brief introduction and an invitation to reply in kind, picked up from a specific location (of Daemon’s choosing). If they moved onto phone calls, well, he would consider getting a throwaway phone as Skull had once done, and then consider moving on to an actual meeting.

“This sounds fine,” Daemon said. “I’ll scout out a good place for a drop point, one that I can get a spy to. I would add something about him staying quiet about the contact for the time being, to respect your privacy.”

“Oh, good point.” He took back the draft and jotted down a few more sentences, saying, “Hopefully he’ll lean toward respecting the request.” He handed it back for Daemon to look over.

“This is fine. Write it up nicely and I’ll have some spies deliver it.”

For that part of things Tsuna did not peek, though the route to that decision involved some debate. “But if I don’t, he might not think it was from the same person,” Tsuna said.

“And if you do, he might not pick it up at all,” Skull said.

Tsuna scowled, but nodded.

Fon did pick up the letter and did leave one at the dead drop.

i appreciate the lengths you have gone to in order to establish contact. for now, you have my word i will not speak of this.

And that was it. Tsuna frowned and glanced at his two guardians.

“Well, he is not as good as he is by being … careless,” Daemon said.

“Hire him for a job,” Skull blurted out.

“Huh?”

“Something to do with issues in China,” Skull continued. “Something relatively harmless, yet still with importance.”

“Uh…” Tsuna started shuffling through his paperwork, looking for a job that would apply to the situation. He eventually found a request from the Scaltro Famiglia. For some reason the Scaltro Famiglia had a thing for chain whips and their supplier was having issues with the group they purchased them from in China. He passed it over to Skull, who read through it carefully.

“Sounds reasonable.” Skull passed it to Daemon, who also agreed.

“Okay. I’ll write up the request.” What he showed to his guardians said, compactly, that as Fon was known to be skilled, and was in the area in question, he was being offered an information gathering job. Get in, get the information, get out, no feathers ruffled. Base pay with a bonus for speed.

It took a few days for Fon to actually agree, as if he was carefully considering whether or not to accept the job. He had the job done in less than twenty-four hours, so Tsuna was pleased to pay up and deliver on the request. He even made a profit. To Fon he sent another letter, this time asking if he was willing to do further jobs of the same type and if he had a preferred method of contact.

Text messages, apparently. Daemon handed him a new phone for use only when communicating with Fon—for the time being, anyway—and life went on. Tsuna still spent a lot of time working out to improve his flexibility, making strides in speed of kunai formation, and accuracy when throwing.

It was not until February and several jobs later that Fon finally asked: who are you really?

“Finally, some curiosity,” Daemon said. “I was wondering how long it would take for him to bite.”

Tsuna sent off a text to let Skull know of the development, then sat back, trying to listen to his intuition, or at least get it to nudge him in a particular direction. “Time to be blunt,” he declared a timeless span later.

Daemon cocked a skeptical eyebrow his way, but nodded.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be inviting him for tea or anything,” he assured his friend. “That would be compromising operational security.”

“But you want to,” Daemon said smoothly.

“Kind of, yes,” he admitted. “He’s kind to Skull.”

“An interesting metric, but one I do not disagree with.” Daemon pursed his lips. “So tell him what you are.”

‘But not my name?’ he wondered. Intuition said his usual would suffice, so he sent back a brief text that simply said: sky arcobaleno.

Sent back was: i am at odds with belief.

you asked, i answered.

there are some things only the sky arcobaleno would know.

Tsuna’s brow went up slowly and he showed the phone to Daemon. As he did so he cast his mind back to the memorial house in Namimori, to the Storm room, and to Fon’s picture. He sent back: zhu shi

Fon stared at his phone in consternation, not that anyone unaccustomed to him could ever divine that reaction from his expression. Whoever had been sending him jobs either really was the Sky Arcobaleno or unbelievably good at data mining. Absolutely no one alive should be aware of his birth name.

Odd how the instances of contact had only begun after the meeting at the Pacifier Spring. Aside from the topic at hand, he could not think of anything that had seemed outstandingly different. Skull had seemed a bit bored but—there it was. ‘He wasn’t pushing for attention,’ he thought. ‘He was acting contrary to his usual behavior. He didn’t even bother to argue with Reborn and Colonnello or try to gain their approval.’

He went over the meeting again and realized he had noticed, but subconsciously. If Skull had not shown up there would have been trouble, but being there and doing nothing had accomplished the goal of remaining mostly unnoticed, certainly by people who never thought much of him in the first place.

Had Skull harmonized with a—Fon furrowed his brow ever so slightly, the corners of his mouth twitching down. Had he—? Skull was in contact with their Sky? Was that why he was being watched? Because he, out of any of them, was the most likely to—not be friendly, exactly—be favorably disposed toward Skull?

This Sky, if that was indeed what he or she was, had only sent jobs of the sort involving information, which could explain why Skull had told him he’d been able to avoid doing any hits lately. A part of him wanted to immediately send out messages to the others, but his agreement stayed his hand. And he was curious. This Sky was not rushing into things. He was being calculated. Fon could appreciate that.

Daring to hope, he sent: what is that sensation?

me looking in on you.

His brow furrowed again. They could do that? Luce had never done that. Then again, Luce had been circumspect in revealing anything about the powers of the Sky Arcobaleno. He took a few moments to adjust his breathing and center himself. His phone chirped again.

the lightless room was an excellent test.

He smiled slightly.

It was another month before Fon took an additional step forward, having sent a text saying he was interested in meeting. Skull seemed torn between happiness and worry over the idea.

“The obvious question,” Tsuna said slowly, “is who goes.”

Skull stopped dithering around and looked at him. “He may already have figured out I’m in contact with you.”

Tsuna nodded and cast a look at Daemon, who said, “I have not seen anything which would indicate either way on that point. However, if you’re willing to reveal that information, perhaps it would be better if I were to stay concealed for the moment.”

His brow crinkled as he interpreted that. Daemon was not saying he wouldn’t be present, just not visible, and that was a reasonable thing to do. He had not spent much time around Fon in his former life. None of them, really, aside from Reborn. Prior to that others might have, but even after—he frowned. ‘After what? Damn it.’

“Where do you think would be a good place, though?” Skull said into the silence.

He blinked and looked up. “Well, it’d be a lot to ask him to come all the way here.”

Daemon chuckled. “That’s simple, Tsuna. Offer him a job where he would have to gather intel in Italy, and include travel expenses in the pay. Then he would already be in the country and you could meet him easily enough. Sticking to Gesso territory is not a bad thing. Or, we could try for a neutral location, but that carries its own risks.”

Tsuna sighed over having missed the obvious and shuffled through the pending requests. One had come in from the Garofano Famiglia looking for information regarding the Tagliare Famiglia, and it should suit well enough. “Okay. I’ll write it up, along with a meeting place. A play park or something. Then it won’t look so odd for three chibis to be there.”

Not long after Daemon had one of his constructs leave the letter in the usual drop location Tsuna got a text accepting the job, plus confirmation on the meeting. When the day arrived he and Skull were making sand castles in one of the play pits, dressed in matching hoodies (appropriate colours a given), with Daemon lurking nearby.

They knew Fon was approaching when a message formed in the air just long enough for them to read it—and of course, their pacifiers glowed—so they were unsurprised when a third “child” joined in sand manipulation. Tsuna looked up and smiled. “Ciao. You can call me Welkin.”

Fon nodded. “Ciao. You already know me as Fon.” His focus switched briefly to Skull. “It is good to see you again.”

“Morning!” Skull said cheerily.

“You harmonized.”

Tsuna nodded.

“Is it just you two?”

Tsuna temporized by saying, “You are only the second Arcobaleno I have peeked in on and contacted.” He dribbled water into more sand and began building another tower. “I didn’t think rushing into things would be wise. And besides, I had to adjust.”

Fon’s eyes narrowed just the slightest bit. “You spied on the meeting.”

Tsuna smiled. “Of course.”

Fon turned to Skull. “What does it feel like now, to be peeked in on?”

“It was creepy at first, but after harmonization? It’s warm, Fon. It’s like a blanket of home and affection and respect.”

Tsuna turned wide eyes on his friend.

Skull flashed a smile at him, then added a little flag to the tower he’d just completed.

“What do you hope to accomplish by this meeting?” Fon asked.

Tsuna shrugged. “I wanted to meet you. Skull keeps telling me I should make more friends. Besides, it doesn’t hurt in the least to potentially have another person capable of running missions. Not everyone is well suited to gathering information. Too many mafiosi just barge on in and cause a mess.”

“So you’re an information broker. I had heard word that a new broker was making a name. I admit I did not expect it to be the Sky Arcobaleno.”

Tsuna shrugged again. “I realize that some people need to kill, because some people need to be killed, but I prefer to avoid that personally if possible. Since I don’t have a choice but to be involved with the mafia, I found a way that allowed me to pick and choose. The same for Skull. The same for you, should you choose to join us.”

“And when it ends up with someone needing to be killed?” Fon asked.

“Then whoever feels like doing it does, or me, if necessary,” he replied. “I don’t like asking people to do things I won’t do myself. So if it came down to it, I’d be the one to volunteer.”

Fon eyed him for a moment. “And have you killed already?”

“Not in this lifetime,” he replied. “But I’m prepared to do so if necessary.”

“It’s just you and Skull?”

Tsuna smiled and shook his head. “I have two guardians.”

Fon’s brow furrowed faintly. Assuming he believed Tsuna’s statement of him being the second Arcobaleno to be contacted, that left only a non-Arcobaleno. “Happenstance?”

“Not exactly. My other guardian was a friend first. Would you be interested in further jobs? They can be anywhere we have requests for. It was … not useful, exactly, but … helpful, that you were in China and willing, but if you were interested in other places…” He shrugged.

He busied himself with packing wet sand into a mold and starting a tower. Welkin had the eyes of a Sky, both accepting and lethal. He was casually cagey in how he answered questions. So much of what he said could have deeper, not immediately obvious meaning. “Not in this lifetime,” was an example, and how he didn’t have a choice but to be involved. For someone like Skull the meaning would be obvious, but for Welkin? Not so simple.

And this other, yet to be seen guardian. Not an Arcobaleno. Whoever it was could easily visit China on a whim, it seemed. If it truly was just the three of them, and if it was the third making those trips (because while he had no doubt Skull could be exceptionally sneaky, he was a known quantity and somewhat visible in his movements), and had never been noticed or felt, he (or she) could easily be a strong Mist, which meant they could be watching even now.

If this mysterious guardian was a Mist, that meant Mammon was out of luck. Then again, it was entirely possible that Mammon had harmonized with Xanxus, the only one of them who had found a Sky. Until Skull. He finished carving the crenelations on his tower and started another one. Deciding to go off on a tangent he asked, “How are you at martial arts?”

Welkin looked up and made a face. “Not very. But I started almost immediately learning how to defend myself in this form. Martial arts requires a proper teacher, and it’s doubtful I would feel safe in a normal dojo, and I question how seriously a sensei would take me.”

If nothing else it was a potential way to get closer to this Sky. He nodded, admitting to himself that he remained curious and, deep inside his heart, hopeful. Skull looked so happy and content. He wanted that for himself. He nodded again and said, “I am willing to take additional missions.”

Welkin’s eyes warmed, though he did not smile. “Any preferences?”

“The country does not matter.”

Welkin rolled his eyes and bit his lip briefly. “So I could offer you jobs all in Italy and it wouldn’t bother you?”

“I love my country, but I am not chained to it,” he replied, amused by the response.

Welkin looked off to the side for a few moments, his eyes seeming to focus on nothing but air, then nodded. “How frequently? It’s a little slow yet still, but picking up.”

“I am … comfortable,” he said, “so even if things were a little slow, that just leaves more time for other activities.”

“Do you have a base here in Italy?” Welkin asked practically.

He nodded. It would have to be cleaned given how long it had been since he spent any real amount of time in it.

“Would you prefer to keep on with a dead drop and text communication or something more personal?”

“Either is fine.”

Welkin looked off to the side again, rubbing his lower lip in a way incongruous for a seeming child, and Fon suspected again that the other guardian was a Mist and present, and writing messages in the air to impart advice. “Okay,” Welkin said with a nod. “Hungry? I’m going to be making lunch anyway, so…”


	4. 04: 2007

Daemon had said it was all right to bring Fon back to their base, and that he would be wearing a disguise. Tsuna knew the odds of Fon being able to recognize Daemon were minuscule; it was still better to be cautious. They abandoned the sand pit and brushed off. As they started to depart Lichi flung himself out of a nearby tree and landed on Fon’s shoulder.

Tsuna gave the monkey a nod of greeting. For some reason it made him wonder what had happened to Cosmo. Their partners were very special, after all. Would Cosmo, at some later date, end up with another Sky?

They made it to Tsuna’s house without further delay and, as they entered the kitchen, he said, “I would make your favorite, but…” He shrugged and got his supplies out, then stamped his foot on the floor to make the built-in riser they had added pop up and give him the height he needed to work.

He diverted temporarily when Quince flew in to land on his shoulder. “Ah, Quince, I’d like you to meet Fon,” he said, heading to get some fruit for his friend. “Fon, this is my animal companion, Quince.”

Quince chortled both as a greeting and over the dates Tsuna had produced, and flew over to a perch so he could eat. “Things going well so far?”

“Yes. And Daemon will tinker if necessary,” he replied.

“My companion’s name is Lichi,” Fon supplied as Oodako squiggled into the room and took position in the secondary sink.

Tsuna smiled and nodded again, then went back to preparing lunch, a simple enough stir fry that anyone could enjoy, even if it wasn’t particularly exciting. Skull helped by setting the table and getting the rice going. He was seconds away from dishing the meal up when a chibi-sized version of Daemon wandered in.

Tsuna eyed his Mist in bemusement and shook his head, then started getting rice into bowls, stir fry on plates, with Skull assisting again. Once they were all seated he said, “Fon, this is—”

“Velo,” Daemon interrupted smoothly.

Tsuna huffed and began to eat, pleased to see that Fon started eating, as well. “Anything come in while we were gone?”

Daemon glanced his way and nodded. “A few more requests. I drafted out a refusal on one of them for you to look at.”

“Oh?”

“Wrong side of the tracks wanting information on an alliance family.”

He nodded. “I’ll check it in a bit. It’d be nice if they’d all get the hint, but it will probably only make them more persistent.”

Daemon shrugged. “For every mostly sane mafioso out there is another one who is too stupid to live.”

Skull snickered. “I’m sure it amuses you to make them back off, if necessary.”

“Of course.”

“Are you part of an alliance family?” Fon asked.

Tsuna tilted his head and considered. “I’m not technically a part of any family but my own, and the alliance bosses don’t know me from a random child in the corner daycare. I chose to refuse requests from families on that side, because of the types of activities they indulge in. Unaffiliated families who stay away from those things are welcome to send in jobs so long as they don’t cross my lines.”

“Why me specifically?”

“Because you’re nice to me,” Skull answered bluntly.

Fon smiled faintly and nodded. “What about the others?”

Tsuna sighed and had another bite before answering. “I’m not sure. Verde seems deeply dug into his research and might not appreciate being interrupted. I’m also not certain about the ethics of some of his experiments. Mammon is part of the Varia already and may be harmonized with Xanxus. Colonnello is busy at Mafia Land and he seems happy, but it’s a possibility. Reborn… I have some ideas about Reborn, but not for some time. I think Reborn would have a hard time respecting me until I’ve … established myself a bit better. I’m an unknown, after all.”

Fon nodded. “Ever used a gun?”

He shook his head. “I did consider it, though, somewhat out of curiosity. They seem to be awfully popular. But I decided I didn’t like the idea of something that could be taken from me.” He thought Fon looked pleased by that, though it was such a minute shift in expression that he could not be sure. Tsuna finished up his meal and set his hashi down. “I expect that you’ll want time to transition so I won’t offer a new job just yet. But once you’re settled…”

Fon smiled slightly and nodded, setting his hashi down. As Skull slid off his chair and began to ferry dishes to the sink Fon produced a set of papers from his pocket and slid them across the table.

Tsuna glanced at the top page long enough to verify it was the job data before tucking them away. “If you follow me, I’ll get your pay.”

A minute later they were in Tsuna’s office and he was seated at his desk, tapping away on his laptop. Once the funds were transferred into a holding account he printed off a card with the account information and handed that over.

“I will contact you once I’m established in the country,” Fon said.

Skull left shortly after for both a job and some alone time, so Tsuna sat down with Daemon to ask about something that had been bugging him. “Can you still warp?”

Daemon gave him a sly smile. “Yes. Or rather, I assume so.”

His first reaction was to feel stirrings of anger. Daemon could have saved his mother? He still couldn’t eat anpan without tearing up.

“However,” Daemon continued, eyeing him knowingly, “from the memories I received, I have serious doubts. It’s entirely possible that the Vindice would notice and bring their attention down on us.”

Tsuna deflated. “And that’s why you use constructs so often.”

“Yes. I have not been willing to risk your safety on the off chance it would go unnoticed. The Vindice would be unlikely to actually do anything—I have a physical body, so its use is not against their laws—but we would be on their radar in a much more uncomfortable way. At present we as mafiosi are of no more interest than any other. Less, perhaps, as we’ve stayed well within the laws. And, if those memories are accurate, every time I used it, everything around me was destroyed.”

“Okay. I’m sorry for doubting you.”

Daemon shook his head. “No. If you’re concerned about something you should speak, even if it’s doubt prompting it. I don’t exactly have the best track record, Tsuna.”

He huffed a laugh. “Funny how I’ve become friends with so many people who tried to kill me.”

“Not Xanxus.”

That made him laugh for real. “That’s supposed to happen this year, right?”

“Yes. Why? Would you like to become the Varia’s new Sky?”

Tsuna gawked. “Ah, no. I don’t think I’m crazy enough to qualify. Though that does remind me…”

“Thinking of working on Zero Point Breakthrough?”

He shrugged. “It’s so weird, this being able to use my flames without having to be shot, without having to go into what Reborn called Dying Will Mode. I hated being shot. It made me capable of fighting, but I lost control. It was all … instinct? Intuition? But to get Zero Point working again I’d have to—the only thing I could think of would be sparring like I used to.”

“And the best person for that would be Fon.”

“Yeah. But then he’d know.”

“If you harmonized with him it wouldn’t matter.”

“And that’s another thing. I realized, I never chose any of my guardians last time. Reborn chose them, or … him. Oh, he’s a strong Rain, let’s drag him into this. He’s a bloodthirsty Cloud, he’ll do fine.”

Daemon picked him up for a cuddle, which made Tsuna grimace slightly at the minor humiliation involved, and said, “You’ve already made such strides. There are so many factors at work. But you’re gaining guardians through real feeling, and respect. Does it make you upset with Reborn?”

“Mm, no. He was just doing his job, and I wasn’t being cooperative. I certainly wouldn’t have sought out guardians on my own. I have you two right here in my heart at all times. But now I wonder just what Reborn thought of me. Was I only a job? A troublesome, uncooperative, frightened job?”

Daemon gave him a squeeze. “Well, that’s the thing, Tsuna. For someone in Reborn’s position, as a tutor, he can’t afford to let himself care too much. I’m willing to bet that his relationship with Dino changed quite a bit after, though he would always have something of an advantage being in a perceived position of authority. But while he’s actually tutoring, if he cared too much, it could get in the way of actually teaching. He’d be prone to doing it all for you, keeping you safe, instead of teaching you to protect yourself. And right now, I don’t think you want that.”

“No,” he admitted.

“What do you plan to do about him?”

“I was thinking of crashing a tutoring session, but that won’t be for a few more years.”

“Plenty of time to train, then. And speaking of which…”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Fon looked around his bolt-hole with minor dismay. No matter how well he cocooned a place dust always found a way in. With a tiny sigh he set about cleaning, using his fine control of his flames to disintegrate the dust before wiping everything down. When he was done he unpacked the essentials and set out to do a little shopping.

Only once those were put away did he send a text to Welkin about his availability. An invitation to visit came back within a minute, so he set out. It was mildly unfortunate that his safe house was a fair distance from Portici, but if things worked out he could always set up a new one closer by.

He did find it interesting that Welkin was in Gesso territory, but set that aside for the moment. At the house he was ushered in by Velo and escorted straight through the house and out back, where Welkin was—were those kunai? Made of flame? ‘Interesting,’ he thought as Welkin nailed what he presumed was an illusionary target that was zipping around the space.

His Sky was not defenseless it seemed. Lounging in a chair up against the back wall of the house was a boy of perhaps eight with spiky white hair and a purple mark under his left eye. The stranger caught sight of him and waved. “Ciao~!”

Welkin let the kunai in his hand vanish as he turned, a smile quickly gracing his face. “It’s good to see you again. Fon, this is—”

“Dolce,” the stranger said.

Welkin rolled his eyes. “Fine. Dolce.”

‘Still being cautious, I see,’ he thought, and gave Dolce a nod of greeting. He would have to consider becoming a lot more familiar with the Gesso Famiglia. The boy was obviously mafia and it was not unlikely that he was Gesso as well. And that meant Welkin had allies.

“Well I am,” Dolce said with a grin, dipping into a bag and popping a fluffy white thing from it into his mouth. After a second the boy offered the bag to him.

He took one to be polite and nibbled on it. ‘Pure sugar. No wonder the boy is so…’

“You’re a lot of things,” Welkin said dryly, then moved over to grab some himself. “You settle in okay?”

“Yes. That is an interesting attack you have there.”

“Oh? I wanted something … versatile.”

And considering the varied uses of kunai, it was a good choice. Attack, restraint, even as digging and climbing implements.

“How do you feel about lasagne?” Welkin asked suddenly. “Because I have one in the oven and it’s almost done.”

“…It is fine,” he replied. It seemed his Sky was set on feeding people regularly rather than just getting down to business. It made him wonder how many cultures’ cooking Welkin could manage.

Welkin nodded. “I should clean up, then.”

“I’ll set the table~!” Dolce said, jumping up and tucking his sweets away.

Fon followed them back into the house and to the kitchen. Velo got drinks on the table and took a seat, then said, “I trust the trip was uneventful.”

“Nothing of note happened. How long have you known Welkin?”

Velo’s eyes gleamed. “Years, decades. The friendship is more recent, though.”

He nodded, not sure how much of anything Velo said to take as fact. It was bad enough that Velo was obviously wearing a disguise and his Mist powers must be mighty indeed for Fon to be unable to see through it. He thought perhaps even Reborn, famed for being almost immune to illusion, would have trouble with this man.

Even so, with Velo being harmonized with Welkin, he trusted that the man would not attack so long as he was not a threat to the Sky. Perhaps he was badly mistaken, but he thought Welkin was courting him. The thought of a Sky actively pursuing him… Luce had been a wonderful Sky, but she never needed them. He had been on his own for a long, long time, and he enjoyed his solitude and freedom, but a part of him badly wanted what Skull had, what Velo had, that warmth in his heart and a place to call home.

He was shaken from his thoughts when a ding sounded, and on its heels came Welkin, freshly showered, to swoop in and retrieve the food from the oven. Velo got up to get a bowl of salad from the refrigerator, which he placed on the table, then fetched several cruets filled with dressing. Dolce immediately portioned it out and set the smaller bowls in place as Welkin ferried two plates over. One was set in front of him and the other to Dolce, but Welkin was back in moments with the other two plates for himself and Velo.

As he gave one of the cruets a good shake before pouring a little dressing on his salad he made the assumption that Skull was either off on a job or drifting. As much as Skull was contrary when it came to Cloud personality, he was still the sort to require a lot of time off by himself. He took a bite of lasagne and hummed. “My compliments.”

Welkin’s eyes gleamed with warmth and … something else, something darker. “Thank you. My mother—” His voice hitched slightly. “—taught me how to cook.”

Given that reaction it was highly likely that Welkin’s mother was dead, and not from natural causes. He cast about for something else to talk about, but was saved when Dolce spoke.

“I think you should get a tattoo.”

Welkin raised a disbelieving brow. “Why?”

“Because I have one?”

“And should I bleach all the colour out of my hair because yours is white?”

Dolce smirked. “That would be taking admiration a bit far.”

It struck Fon as he listened to them banter that Dolce sounded far too old for his age. The more time he spent around Welkin the more confused he got. Velo had said decades, so did that mean Welkin was in his twenties and they had known each other since practically birth? Or was he a lot older and his flames had only become active once he was chosen? Even so, why was he in chibi form like the rest of them? Did he already have children out there somewhere and preferred to extend his life rather than remain in adult form?

“—could braid the sides,” Dolce was saying.

“Ah, sure,” Welkin replied, “and I can cosplay as Legolas while I’m at it, except that I don’t think green and brown are really my colours. It would take forever for my hair to get long enough to do that anyway.”

Dolce shrugged. “Mere details.”

Fon stared as Welkin’s hair turned a platinum blond and lengthened considerably, resting over his shoulders in loose waves instead of spiking up all over the place. “I don’t think it’s really you,” he commented.

Welkin shot him a confused look, then his eyes slid diagonally downward, then stared at Velo expectantly. Velo, he noticed, had something of a haunted look on his face. A moment later Welkin’s hair returned to normal and Velo became very interested in his meal. Welkin’s expression twisted for a split second, and Fon was left with several questions about what had just happened, none of which he was willing to ask.

“Fine,” Dolce said into the awkward silence. “Long hair doesn’t really suit you. I can admit when I’m wrong.”

“Once a lifetime or so,” Welkin said dryly. “Any interesting news through the grapevine?”

Dolce glanced at Velo before saying, “Whispers of unrest fluttering around, but nothing definite. And there’s been some muttered talk about Cavallone.”

“Oh?” Welkin said. “He’s getting on in years, but doesn’t he have an heir?”

Dolce nodded. “Fifteen year old son. He’s still in one of the mafia-run schools. I’m hearing talk that the ninth’s health is starting to fail.”

Welkin nodded. “There’s still time for him to grow up more, perhaps get some personalized attention. Cavallone isn’t large enough to be a critical loss to the alliance, but it would be sad to lose a good family, or have it headed by someone wholly unprepared for the role.” He ate the last bit of lasagne on his plate and nabbed the final tomato in his salad, and set his fork down.

“We can hope,” Velo said. “Of course, if all the bad families up and vanished on us, we’d have to find new jobs.”

Shortly after that he was led into Welkin’s office and offered a seat while the Sky shuffled through paperwork. He made the most interesting faces while he read. He would think it was a quality of a Sky, that openness, but he had met a few who nearly always sported poker faces.

Eventually Welkin looked up and said, “I have two here that I don’t immediately think of other people for.” He slid two pieces of paper across the desk for him to look at.

One was a request for any information on who might be harrying the edges of Costante territory, and the other was somewhat similar to the original job he had been given. The Dritto Famiglia was having issues with their supplier for weaponry and suspected interference, but had been unable to track down the problem. “I’ll take this one,” he said, indicating the Dritto contract, “and if I can track it down fast enough, follow up with the other.”

Welkin nodded and took back the Costante paper. That went into a folder, which was filed in a drawer of the desk. He fished a different folder out and slid it over.

Fon went over everything carefully. The precis had enough information to go on to get the job done, but the folder contained everything Dritto knew and suspected, which was helpful. Thankfully he had a fantastic memory, honed through years of self-imposed training. Once he had it all set in his mind he closed the folder, laid the precis on top, and slid it all back. A short time later he was on his way.

Daemon took a seat on the edge of his desk and said, “So far my spies have not been noticed. I can’t tell if he’s oblivious, unable to sense them, or simply uncaring.”

Tsuna nodded.

“From what I can tell he’s not doing anything particularly unethical. He seems to be spending a lot of time trying to simultaneously create decoy puppets and Lorenzini’s box animal weapons. He has a prototype of his Green Mosca, but it’s a far cry from what you saw. He’s also working on optical camouflage, but I couldn’t tell what stage he was at with it.”

He snorted softly. “Yeah, and then he sent subordinates after any number of bosses and heirs, including me. But I don’t think that happened until—well, not for years.”

“From what I recall he will attempt to kill anyone who either tries to stop his experiments or resists, which doesn’t bode well. However, whatever he’s doing falls within the law, else the Vindice would have hauled him away already. Aside from his casual disregard for other people’s lives, the prisoners I saw were all flame-active and had in some way gone against him.”

“He’s probably using them to try to create the decoy puppets,” he observed, “but I seem to recall that Spanner and Irie helped him with the most recent versions. Same with Green Mosca. Maybe… Maybe I can send in an offer of patronage since I’m starting to rake in the money with those investments, and perhaps point him at Spanner? Er, no. Spanner is my age, I think. Same with Irie. He’s a year older?”

“Would you like me to write up a proposal?”

“Please. I learn a lot from going over how you word things.”

“You don’t exactly do bad on your own,” Daemon pointed out.

“I know. I certainly had experience. But you’re … a wordsmith.”

Daemon smirked with pleasure. “Consider it done.”

Daemon went off to do that and Tsuna headed out back to get in some more practice. He was still debating asking Fon if he would lend his expertise with martial arts. Reborn did not seem to be incredibly skilled with any of it that he was aware of, yet he could still launch himself around and use various moves. He would like to be able to utilize at least that measure of skill.

Hopefully his exercises, the ones Skull had introduced him to and that he continued to practice regularly, would keep him flexible and less prone to muscular strain and damage, enough for a foundation for martial arts, or at least acrobatics. He would simply have to broach the subject the next time Fon was at the house.

That evening after dinner Daemon presented him with a draft and he read it through, appreciating the silky smooth flow of words penned on the page. It somehow came across as being admiring, flattering, without being obsequious. The offer itself was simple. Regular funding in exchange for a percentage of profits on any inventions sold and the possibility of ideas or even fellow scientists being directed his way.

He rewrote it and got it prepared to send out.

A week later Fon was back in his office with the data for Dritto and was looking over the folder on Costante. Daemon walked in and dropped a letter on his desk, then settled into one of the side chairs.

The letter was from Verde and contained a single word answer: no. He sighed and handed it to Daemon. “It was a long shot anyway.”

Daemon snorted softly and handed it back, so Tsuna filed it away, noticing that Fon had a vague cast of curiosity to his expression as he read. “Verde refused our offer of funding.”

Fon looked up. “I cannot say I’m surprised.”

“No harm in having tried, I suppose.”

Fon did not immediately look back down. Instead he said, “Would you be interested in a little training?”

Well, that saved him the trouble of asking for some. “Yes.”

“Before I go we can go over your current routine, and I can guide you through the first of what you’d need to learn, something you can practice without supervision.”

He nodded. “I would appreciate that. Thank you.”

Skull came dashing into the kitchen and blurted out, “The Varia went nuts.”

Tsuna looked up from dicing onions. “What happened?”

“Xanxus led them on an assault of the Vongola base. It failed, apparently, and Xanxus has been imprisoned.”

“Vendicare?” he asked, even knowing it couldn’t be true.

Skull shook his head. “Internally. I wouldn’t want to be the poor bastard who had to bring him his meals and listen to the abuse I hear he hurls without a second thought.”

Tsuna wrinkled his nose. There was no reason to believe Nono hadn’t used Zero Point Breakthrough again to freeze Xanxus entirely, but it remained true if he had not that Skull’s opinion was something he shared. “Either way it sounds dangerous. The other Varia seem fairly tight with Xanxus. I imagine they’d try to break him out. Can Nono even trust them anymore?”

Skull shrugged. “Depends, but they are very good at what they do, and a valuable strategic resource. He could probably get by without them, but it would be an acute loss. The Varia is an odd organization. External, but still ultimately answering to Vongola. I’ve no doubt they go off on their own looking for and dealing with threats Nono might not be aware of, but they still get most of their assignments from him.”

He nodded and finished up his dicing, then tossed the onions in a pot to brown with garlic. “I don’t know if you’d be willing to talk about it,” he said hesitantly, “but…”

“What is it?”

“Well, how did you even get roped into this whole Arcobaleno thing?”

“How did you?” Skull countered.

He looked up from stirring the mixture to see that Skull looked genuinely curious. “I don’t know. I just woke up like this. One moment I was normal and the next I was flat on my back, waking up, tiny, with this pacifier around my neck. I was in a … special place, I guess. It had books about flames and history and … pictures of past Arcobaleno, kind of like a memorial. I learned what I could from the place and never went back. Didn’t see the point. For all I know it’s no longer there. What about you?” he asked, dumping in the tomatoes.

“I was contacted by a man in a checker-patterned mask and an iron hat. He managed to get into my safe house somehow. He told me all about this opportunity, that I’d been selected because I was one of the seven strongest in the world. I found out later he meant the strongest Cloud. He sent us off on a series of jobs. They were interesting, complicated, and varied. We had to work together to manage them, so all of our talents more or less came into play, and they paid really well. The final one…”

Tsuna looked up from stirring the sauce. Skull’s expression was twisted.

“We were bidden to climb a mountain in search of treasure. But when we got up there to the top, this bright light appeared, covered us, blinded us.”

“And you—”

“Yeah. Of course, we only ever communicated with Checker Face by letter after the initial visit he made to each of us. We had no way to find him after we realized what’d happened to us.”

“I’m still sorry you had your life ripped away from you,” he said softly, turning the heat down so the sauce could simmer on its own for a while. He put the lid in place and stepped down from the riser.

“So was yours, and you were—”

“Treated more kindly, perhaps,” Daemon said.

Tsuna jumped and clutched at his heart. “Please don’t startle me like that,” he said, noticing that his Mist was in adult form and Fon was also present. They had probably been listening the whole time and Daemon had stepped in to prevent Skull from blurting out Tsuna’s age in front of the Storm.

“What are you making?”

“Baked ziti—well, baked penne, actually,” he replied. “But not until the sauce has simmered for a few hours.”

Daemon snatched him up for a cuddle, causing Tsuna to wrinkle his nose. “Add some wine to the sauce? Please?”

“All the alcohol will get cooked out,” he complained, “so why bother?”

“It still adds a bit of flavor. Please? For me?”

He sighed. “Okay.”

Daemon dropped a kiss on the top of his head and set him back down. “I’ll go buy some!”

Tsuna watched him leave, shaking his head in bemusement. “Ciao, Fon. How are you?”

“I am well. Thank you for asking. I trust you are also well, and Skull.”

Fon was way too formal at times, he decided. “Skull was telling me that the Varia flipped out.”

“Oh? I wonder what prompted that,” Fon said. “I thought Xanxus was comfortable in his role there, especially considering he’s fourth in line as heir.”

“Well, he’s imprisoned now,” Skull said, “and I doubt he’d be considered even if it came to it, not after leading an assault on Vongola HQ. No idea what set him off, either.”

Tsuna stared up at the ceiling. He wondered if Daemon could get actual proof that Xanxus was adopted. It was entirely possible that Nono would do a much better job of hiding the information if Xanxus had been able to find it so easily. On the other hand, obtaining that would be a strike of sorts against Vongola, theft, and not a place he was entirely willing to go.

Fon broke him out of his thoughts by asking, “Do you sense something?”

“Hm?”

“Luce and her daughter have been known to possess a type of prescience. I wondered if perhaps it was a tendency in those potentially eligible for Sky Arcobaleno.”

“Oh. I was just thinking… I’ve seen pictures of Vongola Nono, his sons, and Xanxus doesn’t really resemble any of them. Maybe it’s just a quirk of genetics,” he said with a shrug. He stepped up onto the riser to peer through the clear lid and saw that the sauce was simmering nicely, so he shuffled off to the side so he could wash his hands, then step back down.

“Interested in some training?” Fon asked.

“Sure.”

He was watching a movie with Skull when Daemon breezed in wearing a secretive smile. He eyed his Mist as Daemon took a seat to join them, then said, “What have you done?”

“Just made some arrangements I expect will pay dividends in the near future,” was the coy response. Daemon snatched him up and gave him a hug, then set him back in his seat.

Tsuna was left wondering just what had caused his Mist to get so affectionate of late. “Okay,” he said slowly. “I’ll let you be all mysterious and wait patiently.”

Daemon laughed creepily and settled back to watch the movie.

Two days later a request came in from an unexpected source. Tsuna gawked at it and then blinked when Daemon snatched it up and said, “I’d like to take this one.”

Skull craned his neck trying to see what was on the paper, unsuccessfully.

Daemon laughed creepily again and swept out, leaving Tsuna to say, “The Cavallone Nono sent in a request.”

“What?”

He nodded. “Yeah. They’ve got an encroachment problem and they’re having a hard time figuring out where it’s coming from. I guess if his health is starting to decline he’s unable to be quite as … vigorous. And his guardians are probably leaning toward making sure nothing happens to him. I could see the whole system slipping because of that.”

“You think Daemon arranged for him to contact us.”

“Yep. I’m sure of it. I wonder, though,” he said, tapping the desk with his thumb. “Is this the opening move in then getting the Vongola to send us jobs? They probably pay well, and that means we’d have a cushion.”

“You seem to have plenty of money anyway,” Skull observed.

He smiled. “I do. And I’ll use it if necessary, if the brokerage fee I take for myself isn’t enough. I was considering buying this house from my friend.”

“And when am I going to get to meet this friend?” Skull asked curiously.

Tsuna stared at him in surprise. “You haven’t—no, I guess not. Wow.” He got out his phone and sent a quick text asking if Byakuran wanted to come for dinner, to meet Skull. He received confirmation a minute later, so he said, “He’ll be here tonight. Any preferences for dinner?”

“Um…” Skull stared hard at the floor in thought. “I could really go for a cheeseburger.”

“Okay,” he said agreeably. “Want to go shopping with me?”

Byakuran breezed in like he owned the place—he did, of course—and waved cheerily at Skull. “Ciao~! I’m Byakuran, but I also go by Dolce.”

“You’re so young?” Skull said in confusion.

“I’m special~!”

“I hope you like cheeseburgers,” Tsuna said, “and if not, pretend you do.”

“American, huh? Fries, too?”

Tsuna nodded. “I can start at any time.”

“Now’s good,” Byakuran said, then glanced at Skull.

“Yep.”

“Okay,” he said, and turned the oven on to pre-heat. He could have fried the potatoes, but that would have required actually purchasing equipment. As it was, he had cheated and bought frozen, seasoned, spiral-cut potatoes and intended to bake them, mainly because Skull had been drooling over them and he had no clue how to make them from scratch. The patties were already made up and waiting in the refrigerator, and he was using muffuletta for the bread.

While he waited for the oven he let Byakuran know about Daemon’s latest antics, which caused his friend to chortle merrily. “He’s so sly,” Byakuran said. “It’s quite the admirable trait.”

The oven beeped so he quickly spread some fries on a tray and slid them in, then prepared to start cooking, turning on two burners so he could heat pans both for the burgers and for the bread. “One slice or two?”

“Two,” they both replied.

A few minutes later he had bread and burgers both frying merrily, and not long after that they were sitting down to eat.

“So,” Byakuran said, “I’m betting you’re thinking that Daemon made this move to edge into the bigger fish of the alliance, with an eye toward Vongola.”

“More or less.”

“I think you’re probably right. There’s some measure of protection taking that route. You provide a valuable and reliable service… Vongola might even take this little family under their protective wing. You even bothered to come up with a family name?”

“Uh…” The idea had never occurred to him. “No. But if pressed I’d have to say Est.”

Byakuran shrugged.

He and Fon were doing tai chi side by side out back when his intuition kicked in hard and caused him to violently move left, pushing Fon aside. He spun around and struck with the kunai that formed in response to his intuition’s urgings. Seconds later he was staring down at two dead men. They were wearing optical camouflage suits.

“Damn it,” he swore, releasing the kunai. He grabbed his phone from the little table next to the back door and called Daemon. “Get home now. Out back. We have a situation. Yeah, Fon’s with me.” After he hung up he set the phone back down and went to investigate the bodies.

One of them still had a syringe clasped in his hand, which only added to the picture. “How the hell did he find me?” he muttered.

“Who?”

He exhaled slowly and looked over his shoulder. “Verde. These two worked for him. I can tell by the gear they’re wearing, though I didn’t realize he was that close to creating a working set. Apparently offering funding is an insult.” He swallowed hard against the rising sense of nausea.

Fon nodded slowly. “One of them seems to have a device of some kind,” he said, pointing.

Tsuna looked back and frowned. “That sort of looks like a Geiger counter.” He pressed a hand against his stomach.

“Are you injured?” Fon asked, coming to stand beside him with a look of obvious concern.

“My stomach is just…” He shook his head. “Need to figure—”

“What happened?” Daemon said angrily from behind them.

“Verde.”

Daemon came up beside him and snarled wordlessly.

“As I was saying, we need to figure out a response, something that doesn’t clue him in that I’m a fellow Arcobaleno.” He found himself being snatched up again and looked over carefully, then hugged close. “I’m okay. Unharmed, anyway,” he amended. He looked down and saw Fon staring blankly at the bodies.

After a squeeze Daemon set Tsuna down and murmured, “I will take care of the bodies. We can discuss this afterward.”

“I’m going to go sit down,” he said a bit faintly, then headed into the house to flop onto the sofa in the living room.

Fon followed and took a seat with him, then, surprisingly, reached out to take his hand and give it a squeeze.

Tsuna smiled, though it did not make it to his eyes. His free hand curled into a fist and he slammed it against the cushion. “I am so angry right now at being forced to kill.”

Fon squeezed again, then offered up the phone he had forgotten to collect. “You should probably let Skull know.”

He groaned and nodded, and took the phone when Fon released his hand. A text was sent out: urgent. lightning struck. return home. It took him far too long to actually type it because his hands were shaking. The phone went onto the coffee table and he sat back, suddenly exhausted.

“I’d like to harmonize with you,” Fon said quietly.

“Why?” he whispered, even as he felt the warmth blossom in his chest.

“Because you’re everything I want in a Sky.”

“Even though there’s so much you don’t know about me? How many secrets I’m keeping?”

“It’s a bit late to worry about that.”

He turned his head and said, “My name is Tsuna. I’ll be seven years old soon.”

Fon’s eyes went comically wide.

He exhaled slowly and rested his head against the back of the couch. “I’m a bloodline Vongola,” he said, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. “I’m missing, possibly presumed dead, because I left the country when my mother was murdered. That was when I harmonized with Skull and Daemon.”

“Velo?”

“Mm.” He laughed mirthlessly. “I really hope it doesn’t take death every time to… Because that’s kind of sick to think about.” He exhaled again and angled his head so he could see Fon. “Sorry you harmonized?”

“No,” Fon said with a faint frown. “I just wish… There wasn’t even any killing intent. If there had been I could have handled it.”

He shrugged. “I told you I was prepared to kill if necessary, but I appreciate the sentiment. Still angry I had to. A part of me is hoping that Daemon does something really disgusting.”

“I did.”

He sat up so he could look back. “Oh?”

Daemon smiled nastily. “Oh yes. It took a little work, but they fit into the box I prepared. I have constructs taking care of the delivery. More importantly, the moment I brought that device into your office it went wild.”

His brows rose as he got a sharp nudge from his intuition. “…The letter? He—he treated it somehow?”

“It’s the only thing I can think of. I hope you’ll forgive me when I say I retrieved it from your desk and sent it off with another construct, along with the folder, just in case the interior got tainted. Let him send more assassins and enjoy trying to find a secret base in the waters off Sicily.” Daemon came around and nudged the table back so he could kneel in front of the couch and give him a searching look. “You’re sure you’re unharmed? You’re not just saying that so I won’t worry.”

A genuine smile crept up. “I’m pissed off, but I’m unharmed. My intuition kicked in. If anything, I should be asking Fon if he’s all right. I kind of knocked him aside dodging the needle.”

“I’m fine,” Fon said.

“Well, if Fon is agreeable,” Daemon said, giving the Storm a look, “we can always set up a room in the house.”

“Yes,” Tsuna said. “If you’d like to make a home here with us…”

Fon smiled and nodded. “I would like that.”

“Tsuna, why don’t you lie down for a bit,” Daemon suggested. “I’ll take care of dinner tonight, okay? I’ll wake you for it.”

He heaved a sigh and nodded. He just hoped he could actually sleep without being subjected to nightmares. He’d had them after Byakuran’s death, but he had also been so much younger at the time. “Okay.”

He motioned to Fon to wait and went off to ensure that his Sky was situated, and even insinuated a mental compulsion to drop off. It would not guarantee Tsuna would stay asleep for any length of time, but he _would_ fall asleep. Then he returned to the living room long enough to invite Fon to the kitchen with a gesture. The first thing he did there was pour himself a glass of wine, and one for Fon when he indicated interest.

“Skull is going to have a coronary,” he said, then sipped from his glass.

“He should already be on his way. How on Earth is our Sky not even seven years old?”

“That, my friend, is one of the very few things I cannot answer in any way which would satisfy you.” He was regretting his much earlier assertion that he’d known Tsuna for decades, but perhaps Fon would push it aside as him attempting to confuse him. “But as you’ve seen, he acts more like a fully grown man. It’s easier to just think of him that way.”

Fon frowned and had some of his wine. “His mother was murdered.”

“Yes. Since he already told you he’s bloodline Vongola, and since you harmonized… His full name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. He’s a potential heir. His mother was murdered by Estraneo, and they were in turn wiped out by Vongola. The only reason he stayed in Japan at first was because of his mother. He didn’t want to abandon her the way he felt his father had. Skull harmonized with him that same night. I did a few days later.”

“I take it he doesn’t get along with his father, then?”

Daemon shook his head. “Wants as little to do with him as possible. He’s got a deep grudge there. Can’t say I much care for the man, either.” He shrugged and drank more wine.

“Do you know why he contacted Skull first?”

“No, he never told me, never explained his reasoning. He was a little careless at first, when they started speaking on the phone, and Skull cottoned on to some discrepancies regarding his age. But once Skull knew that truth, Tsuna invited him to come visit. He warned me, just in case Skull decided to sell him out to Vongola about being an Arcobaleno. It all worked out fine, obviously.”

Fon nodded. “How do you know Tsuna?”

Daemon smirked. “I’ve known the family for a long time.” The sound of the front door slamming shut made him call out, “Kitchen!”

Skull buzzed in seconds later and flung himself into a seat. “What happened? Lightning struck? What the hell does that mean?”

“First,” he said calmly, “welcome your fellow guardian. Fon and Tsuna harmonized.”

Skull glanced at Fon long enough to nod, then shot a demanding look his way.

“Apparently Verde took exception to our offer of funding. The letter he sent back as a refusal was … treated in some way, we think. It could be tracked. He sent assassins.”

Skull yanked on his hair and shrieked, “What!?”

“Tsuna is sleeping,” he said repressively. “His intuition kicked in and he took both of them out. I chopped them into little pieces and boxed them up, and sent them off back to Verde as a message, plus got rid of that letter.”

“Okay, okay. My head believes you, but my heart needs to see for itself.”

Daemon nodded. “He’s in his room.”

Skull slid off his chair and ran out.

Daemon had another sip and said, “I’m glad that you offered to train Tsuna, even prior to harmonization. He’s been working for quite some time with his kunai—he came up with that idea on his own, though his companion may have had something to do with it—but I think the training Skull has already started him on and what you’re trying to teach him will all meld together into a certain style of great versatility.”

Fon’s brow furrowed; he looked as though he was trying to recall something.

Daemon was mildly surprised that the man’s expressions had opened up considerably simply through harmonization—or perhaps trust.

“I had not been aware that Iemitsu of CEDEF was bloodline.”

He nodded. It was risky telling Fon so much so early, but Tsuna had made the decision to open up, and he would not then try to make his Sky look bad in consequence. So… “Yes. When Vongola Primo stepped down—” And the less said about that the better. “—he moved to Japan, changed his name, and made a new life for himself. Tsuna is his direct descendant.

“Iemitsu is out of the running as an heir because he took over leadership of CEDEF. I could be mistaken, but it’s my belief that Nono would be adverse to dragging him in as heir should the need arise, simply because Iemitsu would have experience in a different kind of leadership, rather than what’s required for Decimo.”

Fon gave him an assessing look. “You said you’ve known the family for a long time. How old are you really?”

A question to be expected given his penchant for appearing at various ages, plus things he had said. “You are now my fellow guardian, and I want to be able to trust you the way I trust Skull. So I will answer. But know this: if you betray that trust I will make you regret it most keenly.”

Fon gazed at him steadily, his dark eyes giving away nothing.

“I was Mist Guardian for both Primo and Secondo, if that gives you an idea of my age.” He was impressed that Fon did not so much as twitch, not even a flicker of an eyelash.

“Does Tsuna know this?”

“Yes. He knows my dirty secrets. Skull doesn’t, but then he’s never found a reason to ask. But a lot of my past is relevant purely in relation to Tsuna, and so long as he’s satisfied so am I. When Tsuna came up with the idea of becoming an information broker I was the one to initially go out and dig up secrets or information we could try to sell. From that we’ve managed to get a steady stream of jobs legitimately.”

“I assume you’re primarily in charge of protection—of this house, anyway. I have yet to see anything like a standard alarm system.”

He nodded. “That’s why I think that refusal was treated in some way. A machine tracking whatever substance would not have been fooled by what I’ve done. It makes me wonder if I should alter the way we do things. Have a construct open requests so I can transfer the information to digital, then destroy the original request. Either that or come up with something like that machine to check for anything out of the ordinary.”

“I do not know as much about the Vongola as I now wish I did, but I have heard things,” Fon said. “What can I do to further assist in developing our Sky’s talents?”

Daemon smiled. “Continue with the tai chi, and into sparring. His power of intuition is a beautiful thing, but it’s best if he not rely on that to the detriment of skill. Now, we have several rooms available, as the house was chosen with an eye toward Tsuna gaining a full or mostly complete complement of guardians. Would you like to see them?”

He was shortly leading Fon into an area of the house he had not been invited to previously. He paused at Tsuna’s door to peek inside; Skull was cuddled up against Tsuna’s back. He nodded and pulled the door mostly closed again, then showed Fon the available rooms. Fon chose the closest unused room, so they repaired back to the kitchen, where he poured himself more wine.

“I will transfer my things tomorrow,” Fon said, reclaiming his partly-filled glass.

“Mm. Just a note. Tsuna likes to cook as something of a tribute to his mother’s memory. He’s not going to mind if you make suggestions. For—oh.”

“What is it?”

He got out his phone and sent off a text to Byakuran, then set the phone down in front of him. “Letting … Dolce … know.”

“Just who is Dolce?”

“I’ll let him tell you, since he’s an ally and not a part of this family. It’s even odds he’ll be here shortly. Fettuccine Alfredo tonight, I think. Something that isn’t reminiscent of blood or—” He broke off when his phone twittered and checked; Byakuran was already in a car. He had a sip of wine and got up to check their supplies.

He looked around his safe house, not really seeing any of it, but it was a place that held him in silence and helped him to think—allowed him to, even. Dolce was Byakuran, heir to the Gesso Famiglia. He had not explained how he knew Tsuna, but he was coming to understand that there was some secret the three of them held they were never prepared to share. He could live with that, uncomfortably.

From what he had overheard Tsuna saying about becoming an Arcobaleno gave rise to the idea that this … memorial … was the source of some of his knowledge. He doubted that any of the others had seen the place. So Tsuna knew things about the other Arcobaleno that normally would have required deep digging and ruthless effort.

Daemon was … intimidating, he admitted to himself as he packed up toiletries in a kit bag. If he spoke the truth of his age and experience, there was no telling what he could do, what horrors he could visit on people. There was always a faint aura of insanity surrounding the man, even in child form. But then, even Byakuran seemed tilted. There was a disconnect between emotion and understanding. He questioned, only in the recesses of his mind, what depth of empathy either of them was capable of.

But Tsuna seemed entirely normal, though far in excess of maturity for a mere child. Would that happen to anyone made Arcobaleno at such a young age? Had Tsuna not told him he would never have believed he could be that young. His Sky was impressive, though. Such a head for business, capable of killing, generally calm and collected. He would be a brilliant heir.

A rustling sound make him look down to see the net encasing his pacifier. Daemon had given it to him, along with an anklet. As he was now part of the family he was afforded the same advantages; having them was a sign of trust. Speaking of advantages, he could see where Daemon was coming from on the intuition versus skill issue, but he thought attempting to hone their Sky’s intuition would not be a mistake.

The kit bag was packed away and he started in on the clothing. Perhaps an entirely dark maze-like structure with ultimately harmless traps. If Tsuna’s intuition would kick in appropriately, to allow him to thread the maze, it might serve well in the future. He was a guardian and he would do his damnedest to ensure the safety and well-being of his Sky, but Tsuna should be capable of defending himself, too. He was, he had seen that in action, but they should never suffocate him with overprotectiveness.

Fon paused for a moment and pressed a hand to his chest, savoring the flower of warmth that resided inside. Every time he felt it it threatened to break through his reserve. The last of his clothing was packed away but for a few outfits as a just in case, and he moved on to Lichi’s things. He wondered if anyone would object to him installing a trellis of sorts up near the ceiling of his new room for his companion to play on.

“I think it sounds like fun.” Tsuna looked at Skull and Daemon to see their opinions.

“I’m not sure if it can be trained,” Daemon said slowly, “but I suppose there’s no harm in trying.”

“I think it’ll help,” Quince decided to comment.

He twisted around to stare at his companion. “Oh?”

“Tsuna?” Daemon said.

He waved a hand back that way.

“I think it’ll strengthen your connection to it, get you more accustomed to listening to it, and experience in the more subtle applications of its use.” Then Quince chittered in mild annoyance as Lichi stole one of his dates and bounded away with it.

Tsuna giggled quietly and turned back. “Quince is in favor.” Surprisingly—to him, anyway—he had no real issues with nightmares after the failed assassination. He held a mild suspicion that Daemon might have done something, but perhaps he was being unkind. Perhaps he really had resolved certain issues that in the past would have, and had, sent him spiraling off into fits of anxiety and depression. Perhaps he really had accepted that some people deserved it, that self-defense was a valid resort.

Even in the past he had been prone to fits of anger about it—people like Mukuro and his view of other people as mere toys for him to play with, torment, and kill. Byakuran. Some could be turned, made to see another viewpoint. Some could not. Reborn had never managed to get that through his head. He would just say things like how he was too kind, sometimes.

Training his intuition might result in being forewarned much earlier, on much more subtle whispers of unease. Maybe his mo—he closed his eyes for a moment, willing himself to stay calm. “What would it take?”

“And what would we use?” Skull asked. “Noodle swords? Whiffle bats?”

“Pressure plates that set off spring-loaded traps,” Fon said. “I could see the use of foam. It might sting if it connected, but would do no lasting harm.”

“Is this property large enough to do something, or would we need to look into purchasing?” he asked. “I can’t really see us bringing in a crew to dig us an underground maze.”

“I would say bring you into one of the family training grounds,” Byakuran said, “but I don’t think we want that much notice on you. However, I know of a few warehouses we currently have empty, and I could appropriate one of them.”

“Well, considering how short Tsuna is, we could have a multi-level maze,” Daemon said, smirking.

Tsuna scowled at him. “And maybe you should have to run it, too, while blindfolded.”

“Not a bad idea,” Quince said, causing him to twist around again. “For you, I mean. Though watching Daemon stumble around sightlessly would be amusing.”

He snickered and turned back.

“Still, at some point,” Byakuran said, looking at him, “you might want to consider purchasing a small manor house. Have it modified to suit long-term use, and Daemon can always tinker with memories after the fact to ensure any workers forget about the place.”

“So, short term, use the warehouse, but I should go over the finances to see what I can swing. You’re still comfortable with it being in Gesso territory?”

“Of course, Tsu-kun~!”

“I’ll start looking around,” Daemon said, “get some prospects ready for you to look at. We can check them out, debate safety issues, construction, and prices.”

He wasn’t entirely keen on the idea of moving, again, but he could see where Byakuran was going with the line of thought. The house was large enough for all of them, but if he added more guardians, even with rooms for them, the place would become almost uncomfortably crowded. And in the end there simply was not enough room to properly train. It would give them a chance to put in far more comprehensive security, set aside room for supplies, arms, and things of that nature.

He had never had a home of his own. This wasn’t his home. Before it had been his mother’s home, far more so than … his. And as Decimo, it was the Vongola mansion. It was a nice thought, a home for himself, for his family.

Tsuna was busy whacking splicers in inventive ways when Daemon strode in and cleared his throat. He quickly exited the game and gave his Mist his attention.

“Verde had a massive temper tantrum once he realized what happened to his two assassins. His prototype Green Mosca is so much scrap metal at the moment. But after that he calmed down again quickly and started muttering about improving the suits. I think he believes they failed in some way during the attempt such that non-children could see his men.”

“Well, there’s no way I’m ever going to attempt to…” He trailed off. “If I get a Lightning Guardian, it won’t be him. His response to something essentially innocent was so far outside reason to me. Yes, I had an ulterior motive, but not to his detriment. He has a brilliant mind, so I’d have been disappointed in an abstract way if the relationship never developed to that point, but not upset, not without knowing him better. But this…”

Daemon nodded. “I’ll keep an eye out for any potentials, but I won’t make it a priority. Sometimes things just happen as they will.”

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he wandered into the kitchen in order to see about getting breakfast ready, but stopped dead in the doorway. His guardians were gathered around the table and a cheesecake was waiting there, topped with raspberries and drizzled with sauce. “Oh. It’s that time again?” He drifted over to the table and hopped up onto one of the seats.

Skull cut a slice and plated it, then slid it over to him with a fork. “Yes. Happy birthday, Tsuna.”

“An odd breakfast,” he replied with a smile.

“We weren’t sure we could surprise you again the same way,” Daemon said, “so we figured we’d start early.”

“How come we never celebrate anyone else’s?” he asked, watching as Skull deftly got everyone set up with a slice.

“You’re still young enough,” Fon said.

Tsuna shook his head. “No. You say happy birthday, but doesn’t that mean, ‘I’m happy to have had another year with you’? Or something like that.”

Fon looked down briefly. He wasn’t the only one. Daemon coughed quietly and said, “I don’t remember my birthday.”

Tsuna gave him a sad look. “March, the twentieth, then.”

“Going for symbolism?” Daemon commented with raised brows, then nodded.

He nipped off the point of his cheesecake once everyone had been served and began to enjoy his treat. It was just as delicious as the last time. When he finally set down his fork a small, unwrapped box was pushed his way by Daemon. He pushed the lid off and set it aside; inside was a ring. It was just a simple band with no crest, but the outer surface looked cracked, like the drained and dry bed of a river. He looked up at Daemon and said, “Is this what I think it is?”

“An Earth ring, yes.”

“Wow,” he breathed. “I’d forgotten about that. Thank you.”

“An Earth ring?” Fon questioned.

“You are aware of Flames of the Earth?”

Fon shook his head.

“There is only one family I know of, but I suppose there’s the odd person roaming about,” Daemon said. “I determined some time ago that it was possible for me to use rings attuned to those flames—even other Flames of the Sky—and managed to get my hands on one for Earth, for Tsuna to try. I could be mistaken, but it’s my belief that anyone powerful enough could learn to channel power through them.”

“It’s not a factor of Mist Flames?” Fon persisted.

Daemon shrugged. “We shall see, I suppose. But you must also consider that Tsuna is a Sky, and the base property of his flames is harmony. That alone may see him capable of wielding a flame not his own, simply because he may instinctively understand it.”

Fon rubbed his chin thoughtfully and nodded. “What property does Earth hold?”

“Gravity manipulation.”

Skull suddenly looked a bit sick. “I can think of some horribly effective uses for that.”


	5. 05: 2008

Tsuna made sure the blindfold was comfortable and blocked his sight before setting out cautiously. One hand was lightly touching the wall to help guide him, and he was trying his best to “listen” to some nebulous sense, his intuition. He was certain he was not succeeding when he was thwapped in the face with a foam bat and nearly knocked off his feet. 

He just knew his guardians, who were watching using night vision technology, were laughing at him. Byakuran had come through after a few months of effort and turned the warehouse over to them for the time being. Work on the house they had agreed on had started, but it would be months before it was ready. They had hashed out any number of plans regarding the property they purchased and Daemon had a number of spies there keeping an eye on the workers.

He edged around a corner and had his legs knocked out from under him, ending up nose to the floor, and cursed quietly. He ought to try harder, but it was so easy for his mind to drift off into thinking about various things when he couldn’t see. He got back up, huffed, and touched the wall again. Part way down the hall—he assumed it was one, anyway—he felt a vague sense of unease and paused, unsure how to respond.

A tentative step forward increased the intensity, so he pulled his hand away from the wall and shuffled sideways. That helped, but as he started forward again he had to stop. He shuffled sideways again and bumped into a wall, so he reached out to steady himself. Further progress forward was fine.

He did fine for some time, then stepped into a shallow pool of water. The sudden difference in height saw his backside hit the floor after he wobbled uncertainly and his knee bent against his will. That made him wonder if the maze was currently trapped in segments, with different sorts of traps in each one.

He was not supposed to “cheat” by tapping ahead with a foot or using his hands for anything other than balance. Nor was he supposed to figure out ways to use his flames to accomplish something similar. He had no idea how useful his infravision would be, but that was also off the list. And on that note he stumbled into another shallow pool, but managed to keep his balance.

It took six mistakes for his intuition to start prompting him, causing him to wonder if the famed Vongola talent did not consider embarrassment to be worth worrying about. Naturally, it was about then that the traps changed again, as he realized when something landed on his head. A sack, perhaps, filled with something just heavy enough to be uncomfortable and make his knees wobble in reaction.

It took three more instances for his intuition to kick in, which gave him a sense of relief. In no time at all after that he was at a dead end and felt around for some hint. A knob made itself known, so he turned it and opened what was obviously a door.

“Well done,” Fon said.

Tsuna removed the blindfold and blinked rapidly against the light. “It seems to be working,” he ventured.

“Not immediately,” Skull piped up, “but it’s almost like it’s learning?”

“Good thing we prepared multiple corridors, then,” Daemon said, “with various configurations. Take a short break, then we can try another. How many in a day depends on how tiring this ends up being for you.”

He nodded and accepted a juice box.

They were sightseeing in Rome—for all the time Tsuna had spent in Italy in either life, he had never been—when he saw something that made him stop and gawk. The young man in question noticed and wandered over. “Hey, little man. Is something wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Tsuna swallowed and peered up at the guy, a dead ringer for Lambo but for the eyes; his were blue. “Are you real?” he whispered.

The man crouched down and held out his hand, an amused look on his face.

Tsuna took it, almost surprised to feel warm flesh, and looked wonderingly back at the man’s face. It finally hit him who it must be: Romeo. He vaguely remembered that one night at the cemetery, when he learned that Bianchi had killed an ex-boyfriend of hers, how the man had tried to take revenge in spirit form.

“What’s your name?”

“Um…” His guardians realized he was no longer with him at that point and hastened over. “Sora,” he chirped.

“Sora, huh? Well, I’m Romeo. Is this your family?”

Tsuna nodded.

“So why the funny look?”

“You … remind me of someone I once knew.”

Romeo chuckled, obviously not believing a word, not coming from someone who looked all of two years old. “Well, it was nice to meet you. Unfortunately, I do need to get going. You have fun, okay?”

“Okay,” he said and beamed an innocent smile.

Romeo got back up, gave a little wave, and wandered off.

Tsuna immediately frowned. Was it wrong of him to want to save the man’s life? He was—he had been twenty-one when he died? He turned to Daemon and lifted his arms in a wordless demand. Daemon promptly picked him up, so Tsuna whispered, “Can you track him for me?”

Daemon nodded and said, “Are you tired?”

He shook his head. “A little hungry, though. Skull? Fon?”

“I could go for something,” Skull replied, looking confused. Fon looked vaguely suspicious, but nodded agreeably.

Daemon set him back down and led the way to a café, got them situated at a table. It wasn’t until they had their orders that Tsuna said, “I don’t expect any of you to understand, but… I’m super curious about that guy.”

Daemon gave him a knowing look, though it remained to be seen if he had any knowledge of Romeo as opposed to Lambo. The resemblance to Lambo, and Lampo by extension, should have piqued his curiosity.

“I want to know more about him.” He bit into his cannolo and hummed in pleasure, then frowned again. Seeing Romeo reminded him of Bianchi, which reminded him of Hayato. There were gaps and fuzzy spots in his memory from his past life, but he did know that some time after Hayato had turned eight he found out about his illegitimacy and ran away—to Shamal, perhaps?

Either way, Bianchi had, at some point, claimed to have gone out with Romeo. He had died of food poisoning. Romeo’s spirit had accused her of the deed. But if Bianchi had then allegedly become Reborn’s girlfriend—he shuddered. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen or fifteen at the time, which was just sick to contemplate.

He admired Bianchi’s nerve, talent, and constancy, but her habit of hooking up with older men and her tendency toward obsession… Maybe Romeo wasn’t at fault? Maybe he had tried to stay away from her, but she was obsessed with him…? Hopefully Daemon could find out the truth.

As for Hayato, he was not sure what to do. Hayato also had issues with obsession, not to mention trust. He honestly could not see taking in a seven year old boy and training him up to be a reliable, skilled mafioso. He was back to the same issue as before. Did he meddle? Did he let this world sort itself out for the most part?

Skull laid a hand on his arm. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” He had a sip of his milk and asked about what they could visit next.

It was not until both Skull and Fon had gone off on jobs that he was able to speak openly with Daemon. The need for secrecy upset him and made him feel guilty, but… He shook his head at the thought.

“It’s amazing how much he resembles them.”

Tsuna nodded and related what he knew. “But who knows how much of that applies here?”

“Why do you care?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I was just so surprised, seeing his face, and it brought up a lot of memories. It reminded me that not only was he poisoned to death, but that Bianchi may be a problem if I try to bring Reborn into the fold. He was tutoring Dino during the time period when she became an issue, because I recall Dino telling me she kept trying to kill him.”

“I see. Well, I have a spy on him. As for Bianchi, I can force changes there, should it be needful, but you know what that means.”

He grimaced. “I guess we can table the issue of Bianchi until later, when I’m ready to make that move.”

“And Hayato?”

“I have no idea,” he said with a sigh. “We were close, I guess, we trusted each other, but… The only reason he ever found an in to the mafia, got taken seriously, was because Reborn decided he’d be my Storm. No one would take him seriously before that, not even his own father. It’s not my place to say whether or not he involves himself for real with the mafia, but—”

“You’re right,” Daemon interrupted, “it’s not. Because even if you interfere, he may still end up as a working part of a family, and not necessarily a good one. It depends on how desperate he gets. The memories I obtained say he never even used his flames until you went to the future. Before that it was all dynamite. Now that’s understandable, up to a point. He already is mafia, though. He was born to it, and was aware of it. If you aren’t willing to take him on yourself in some way, the most you can do is find a decent family that can be convinced to take him in and train him.”

His eyes watered at the thought of what his once-friend might be driven to in order to find acceptance. “He has so much potential,” he whispered. “He’s an amazing pianist, he’s so smart…”

“There’s still the issue of what _he_ wants.”

Tsuna drew his legs up and wrapped his arms around them, resting his chin on his knees. “Will you try to find him and keep an eye on him? If he’s getting into trouble, maybe we can cut some kind of deal with a family we do business with, or make an offer of some kind contingent on him attending school and … I don’t know.”

Daemon nodded. “I will do so. But I want you to remember that even if you do bring him in, it’ll never be the same relationship. He’s not the same person. You’re no longer the same age. He won’t be your Storm, he’ll be _a_ Storm. Don’t paint a nice pink glaze over your memory and delude yourself, Tsuna. It’s not fair to either of you.”

Fair enough, even if he was loathe to admit it. “I don’t even know why he’s so different. I don’t feel that way about Takeshi or Ryohei. I guess because they had family members they were close to without the same complications, and they had support. I can’t count Bianchi, because she didn’t even seem to notice or care just how much damage she’d done, even if she did care about him as her brother. You’d think after watching him repeatedly keel over on seeing her face she would have…”

“You identify with him more because of your own father.”

His brow furrowed. “Maybe I do.” After a sigh he uncurled and sat properly, then pulled the file of pending requests over.

With the inclusion of training for both his intuition and Earth ring to his already regular schedule of tai chi and Sky Flame practice, his days were full and tended to blend together. Requests continued to come in and they picked up a sparse handful more clients, but not so much that they were struggling to keep up.

Two months of surveillance brought about the news that Romeo was a freelancer who frequently masqueraded on jobs as a delivery person. Romeo had something of a gift for talking his way into short-term stints with various companies all so he could legitimately get onto a property. Tsuna wondered if that was how he had originally met Bianchi.

“I’ve never witnessed him using flames, but he tastes like Lightning.”

“Huh.” Tsuna propped his head against a fist. “Somehow I’m not surprised. It’s stupid of me to do, but I keep imagining him as an older Lambo, just maybe without the cowardice.” He pulled the pending folder closer and flipped it open. Careful perusal of the available jobs highlighted one of interest. “He might want to stay a freelancer, but I don’t see the harm in testing him with the odd job. Someone that naturally smooth could be an asset.”

Daemon stole the job specs from him and read it through, saying, “Well, not everyone with active flames even uses them for jobs. Even so, he seems to be using the concept of them in terms of drawing attention away from the real goal, which is in his favor.”

Romeo idly flipped through his mail, setting the bills aside. The high quality envelope sandwiched between two letters caught his attention. Center back had an engraved address, but no name, just an odd compass rose with the right spike shaded orange. He grabbed a knife and carefully slit it open and slid out the contents.

“A job offer?” he muttered. “Who the hell are these people and how did they find me?” He set the letter down to fetch himself a soft drink and reclaimed his seat. A prickling sense of paranoia stalked up his spine as he thought about how whoever they were had been surveilling him for months and he had never noticed. “They’re good, but I am officially creeped out now. But…” He sipped his drink and sat back, glancing at the letter. “This is their first overt move. If they’d wanted me dead they could have done it easy, I guess. Maybe they’re picky and I meet some criteria? Shit. No pressure, right?”

In the end he set it aside and, in the face of other jobs, forgot about it entirely until a second missive came in. When he saw that symbol on the back he grimaced before opening the letter. “Another offer. Shit.” He went to the phone and dialed. “Yo, Shamal. You got time?”

“Well, I am kinda—”

“Man, look. I got something here I have no idea what to do with. I was hoping we could meet and maybe you’d have some clue.”

He heard an aggrieved sigh. “Fine. Meet me at the piazza. And you better be buying.”

Romeo rolled his eyes and hung up, then set out. Shamal was already waiting when he arrived at the little café bordering the square, so he slid into a seat. After being served he laid the two envelopes on the table and slid them over. “You recognize that symbol?”

Shamal grabbed the top envelope and stared at the back, then dropped it on the table. “Information broker, fairly recent, so I don’t know much about them, just rumors.”

“Which are?”

Shamal shrugged. “Rumor says they don’t deal with the shadier side of things, but I don’t know how accurate that is. Maybe they’re getting enough business and are looking to expand.” He waved a hand around carelessly and sipped his espresso.

“No name?”

Shamal shook his head as he eyed a young woman walking by, an appreciative smile curving his mouth. “Just ‘Est’ is all.”

‘I guess that explains the symbol to some degree,’ he thought, and flagged down the server to pay the bill. “Thanks, man,” he said to Shamal, then got up.

“I don’t get a full meal?” Shamal complained.

“Yeah, right. For that little amount?” He rolled his eyes and returned home. At the very least he was somewhat reassured regarding the offers. Shamal cited rumor, but Shamal was much higher up in the skeletal hierarchy of freelancers, and had regular access to better information. The man claimed Reborn as a friend of sorts, for heaven’s sake! That was high class, rank S-level of cool.

He heaved a sigh and got out some supplies to write a letter with, wishing this Est person or organization used email, but understanding the value of dead drops or the equivalent. What he got back was a simple enough job. They wanted the layout of a particular machine shop. He slid into a job with one of their suppliers long enough to make some deliveries and have some time to poke around.

Romeo had no clue why they wanted the information, but the completed map was sent back and he received a card with information on it for a temporary holding account. Along with it was a request to investigate the raw materials they were using and, if possible, records regarding those materials. He frowned until he saw the second sheet, which let him know that a client ordering from the shop was receiving substandard work, and the goal was to determine if it was the shop’s fault or if they were being scammed by their suppliers.

“I’m starting to feel like a detective,” he muttered, but nodded. It all still seemed aboveboard, so he prepared for round two. He still couldn’t tell if he was being watched the whole time and that creeped him out in a major way, but he didn’t allow the feeling to interfere with his work.

“Huh. Just a single machinist pulling a scam,” Tsuna said. “Well, whatever. It’s up to the client to decide how to handle that.” He wrote up a report and tossed it in the out-box, updated his database, and printed off a card for Romeo.

“He seems skilled,” Fon commented. “Are you considering him as a guardian? You do seem rather taken with him.”

Tsuna wrinkled his nose. “That makes it sound like I like him.”

Fon smiled. “Sure you don’t think he has—what was the term?—cooties?”

He blew a flat raspberry at his Storm. “Keep that up and I’ll send you to infiltrate a daycare facility with Daemon as your daddy. And I don’t know. I understand and accept the role of a Lightning Guardian, but we deal in information.”

“And you’ve been attacked already.”

“By a—” He could not think of a good word.

“And that you took care of. A special case … perhaps. But how many is Daemon fending off on his own? I’m not sure you understand how this feels from the heart of a guardian, Tsuna. When it’s just one of us here, the others worry. I know that Skull needs his time away, it’s just the nature of his flames, despite how happy he is to spend time with you and us.”

He huffed a laugh. “You, too, huh? Are you suggesting I give him serious consideration for that? Because I’m kind of dense at times and I don’t always get subtlety.” He still didn’t know what he felt about Romeo. Some of the time the very idea almost felt like a betrayal of the boy he never gave an honest chance to, but other times he agreed that a Sky needed the bands of his personal rainbow filled with vibrant colour. “I never have considered myself a social person.”

Fon’s brow went up. “Yes.”

Right. “For now I’ll just keep sending jobs his way. He may eventually become curious enough to ask.”

“Like myself? Like Skull?”

He nodded. “Want to help me go over what’s available and pick something for him?” He was interested to see what Fon might choose. It would give him some idea of his Storm’s thoughts without directly asking.

“You do realize we’re being followed, yes?” Fon said quietly.

“That white van with the tinted windows?” he replied. “The one straight out of a cliché? I had no idea going out for gelato would be so exciting. Wanna bet on it? Human trafficking, pedophiles, child pornography?”

Fon coughed. “When you say things like that I almost forget just how young you really are. So how do you want to handle this? Innocently wander down an alley?”

“I’ve never run across a situation like this before,” he admitted. “I mean, they could be anyone, right? If they aren’t mafiosi…”

“Worried about the Vindice?”

“Yes,” he replied, trying to remain relaxed. “I know the police is never an option.”

“So long as they make the first move it doesn’t matter. We can either kill them for their presumption or let Gesso know what’s going on in their territory. I’ll have to sit you down to make sure you’re straight on the laws, though.”

Tsuna smiled a bit sheepishly. “Yeah, not a bad idea. Well, I’d rather play bait for this bunch than let some actual children be harmed, so let’s head down that alley coming up. I wonder if they’re picking on us because we’re Asian.”

Fon pulled his phone out as they rounded the corner and kept a discreet watch in the reflection from the cover’s screen. “Three of them,” he whispered.

He looked down for a second in lieu of a nod and Fon put his phone away. Tsuna could hear quiet footsteps coming up behind them, out of sync with each other. The hair on the back of his neck rose as they got closer and he had to push down the desire to shudder. Then a hand came down to grab his hair and pull his head back. He caught of whiff of chemicals from the left.

Just as kunai formed in his hands and he was turning to attack he spotted someone at the end of the alley. But then he was stabbing into the side of the knee of the man who had him, though it cost him some hair when his attacker went down. He followed it up by launching himself off the man’s groin so he could stab the second one in the thigh.

Fon had knocked one out and joined him in taking down the third. The witness came rushing down the alley; Tsuna pivoted, ready to attack again, but relaxed when he realized it was Romeo and turned back to the attackers. Fon was ensuring all three were unconscious, so he released his kunai and pulled out his phone and dialed. After two rings it was picked up.

“Ciao~!”

“Yo, got a problem,” he said, turning back so he could eye Romeo, who looked comically confused. “Three men just attacked me. No idea if they’re active or not, but it’s your territory, so…”

“Where are you?” Byakuran demanded. “Are you alone?”

“No, I’m not,” he said and gave the location. “They’re knocked out at the moment. Got a van back on the street they were following us in.”

“I’ll be there in … ten. Ciao.”

He flipped his phone shut and held it loosely.

“What the hell,” Romeo said. “I know you. I remember you. It was in Rome.”

He gave a little wave. “Ciao, Romeo. You have a good memory.”

“It’s Sora, right?”

“Um… Yeah, Sora.”

Romeo frowned at him.

“This is Arashi,” he said, nodding at Fon.

The frown stayed on Romeo’s face as he said, “And these three?”

Tsuna shrugged. “Dunno, but they were going to chloroform us and who knows what next.” He pointed at the cloths that had dropped to the ground. “We got it covered.”

“You say that like I’m going to walk away,” Romeo retorted. “Who are you really?”

He exchanged a look with Fon. “Not really relevant at the moment,” he said. “If you want to stick around that’s fine. It shouldn’t be too long.”

“I think I’ll stick around long enough to make sure you two get home okay.”

“Because we’re two helpless little kids?”

Romeo made a rude noise. “Yeah, right.”

“I am fairly certain you ruined this one’s knee,” Fon commented, eyeing the wound.

Tsuna shrugged. “Maybe he’ll learn something from the experience,” he said a bit unfeelingly. At least neither of them was in danger of bleeding out, not with having been stabbed with solid flames.

Right about then he heard the sound of a motorcycle; it squealed around the corner and jerked to a stop. Byakuran jumped off and dropped the stand, then stalked over. “My people are a few minutes behind me,” he said, then gave Romeo a look. “And who are you?”

“Romeo.” He looked a bit weirded out at a pre-teen questioning him like that.

“Right,” Byakuran said dismissively. “You searched them at all?”

Tsuna shook his head. “You got anything?”

Byakuran grinned and produced a bag of marshmallows. “Always~!”

He grabbed a handful and started munching. Reaction was setting in with the adrenaline wearing off and he wanted a pick-me-up. They waited in companionable silence, though Romeo shifted restlessly, and a car pulled up a few minutes later at the near end of the alley.

Four men in suits stepped out and headed their way. They efficiently tied the men up and hauled them off to be dumped in the back of the van, as well as collected the cloths. Two men got into the van and drove off while the other two returned to their car and departed.

“I’ll walk back with you,” Byakuran declared.

Tsuna nodded and they set off, his friend wheeling his bike, and Romeo following along behind with Fon.

“You called…?”

“Not yet.”

Byakuran shook his head slowly and laughed. “That’ll be fun.”

The remainder of the walk passed in silence, and it was not until they arrived that an awkwardness descended over the company, due entirely to Romeo. Fon simply raised a brow when Tsuna looked his way and Byakuran grinned. He heaved a sigh and said, “Would you like to come in?”

Romeo stared at him. “Yes, actually.”

“Okay,” he said with a shrug, and continued on in. He headed straight for the kitchen and got drinks for everyone, then hopped up onto a seat and got his phone out again. Daemon picked up on the first ring. “Hey, uh, had an incident.”

Daemon snarled softly. “You’re all right?”

“Mm. Home at the moment. I—”

“It can wait,” Daemon interrupted. “I’ll be home shortly.”

Tsuna stared at his phone when his Mist hung up on him. “I don’t think he’s happy.”

“Is it relevant now?” Romeo asked pointedly.

“Why do you want to know? I know I’m precocious and all, but…”

“You were a real cute kid when I saw you the first time, but what I saw you and your friend here do a little while ago…” He huffed a cynical laugh. “You’re active, Sora.”

“I’m very active. I take my exercise very seriously,” he said innocently.

Byakuran raised a hand over his mouth that completely failed to hide that he was laughing.

Romeo pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. You’re mafia.”

Tsuna gasped and leaned forward to whisper, “How did you guess?”

Daemon strode in looking like a thundercloud to snatch him up and check him over. Once he was satisfied he stole the seat and kept Tsuna in his arms. “What the hell happened?”

Fon sighed. “Three men were following us in a white van. We decided to deal with it. They’re in custody right now,” he said, angling his head toward Byakuran.

“And you,” Daemon said to Romeo. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I was walking past an alley and happened to glance down it, saw these two about to get snatched. They took care of it, though, before I could get close enough to even help.”

“And I suppose Quince was here.”

“You know he prefers to sleep during the day,” Tsuna replied.

Romeo brushed his hair back off his forehead. “Who are you people? I know you’re mafia. Normal people don’t produce weapons like that out of nowhere, never mind two year olds.”

Tsuna leaned forward again. “Okay. Have it your way. I’m one of your employers.”

Romeo gave him a skeptical look.

“The first job I sent you on involved suspicions regarding a machine shop. You sent back the layout, then determined that one of the workers was pulling a scam.”

“Holy shit,” Romeo whispered. “No way. You’re a baby!” He ran a hand through his hair again, then his jaw dropped. “Wait a minute.” He looked at Fon, then Tsuna. “Are you like that Reborn guy I hear so much about?”

“What have you heard?” Fon asked.

“He’s little, like you two, but everyone calls him the world’s greatest hitman. He’s like a legend. I’ve never actually seen him, but Shamal knows him. They’re friends of a sort, he says.”

“Trident Shamal. Yeah, I know of him,” Tsuna said. So Romeo knew of Reborn, but not Arcobaleno? How odd. It was bad enough Romeo had witnessed anything unusual. If he said anything to Shamal, the odds of it getting back to Reborn were high. “Oh, there’s something I wanted to get from my room,” he said and looked at Daemon expectantly.

Daemon promptly stood up and began to leave the room with him. Tsuna looked back at his two friends and mouthed, “Keep him here.” Down the hall he whispered, “Damage control? I was really surprised that he happened to be there. You know I deal better with potentially fatal surprises and not ones like this.”

“You’re actually giving me permission to tinker with an ally’s mind?”

“I kind of think it’s probably necessary,” he said reluctantly. “Just enough that he doesn’t talk about any of this to anyone outside the situation.”

Daemon nodded, then created an illusory teddy bear and offered it to him with a smirk. He wrinkled his nose and accepted it, wedging it between him and Daemon. Back in the kitchen Daemon reclaimed his stolen seat.

“Well,” he said, “now that you know a little bit more about one of your employers, are you still willing to be employed by me?”

“Uh…” Romeo stalled by taking a sip of his soda. A few sips later he said, “You’ve never given me a job I was uncomfortable with. I’m not exactly _highly_ sought after so the jobs I’ve been doing for you have been a great help financially. So yes.”

“Are you willing to consider working for me exclusively?”

“So long as you can keep up at least as much as you’ve been sending my way, yes.”

“Will you keep your mouth shut about me? This house? My friends?”

“Considering that I’d probably end up with a serious case of dead if I didn’t…”

Tsuna said, “Well, Omertà exists for a reason. So, okay, finish up any outstanding jobs you have with other people. I will give you a phone number you can use—it’s to one of the spare phones I keep handy. Also, you’re invited to have dinner with us here once a week, or really, any day you drop by to pick up jobs.”

Romeo blinked. “Are you usually this cozy with agents?”

“There are only four of us, five including you. It’s like a family.”

“Oh. Is your name really Sora?”

“It is right now,” he said teasingly. “So, you know Arashi. My white-haired friend here is Dolce. And this—” He patted Daemon’s arm fondly. “—is Kiri.”

After Romeo left a few minutes later Byakuran raised a brow at Daemon, who smiled. “I planted a compulsion in his head to keep quiet. We’ll know if he tries to go against it if he starts getting headaches. But nothing I’ve seen so far in my surveillance of him suggests he would talk. He’s got a sweet deal with us, steady work. He’d be a fool to blow it just to ask impertinent questions. And if he is a fool, I’ll wipe parts of his memory, and then go after anyone he spoke to.”

He nodded, not entirely happy, but he had been the one to prompt his Mist to the action. He had to put the protection of himself and his guardians first, and his friends. Byakuran could take care of himself, he knew, but he was still a close and trusted friend, even if not close in the way of his relationship with his guardians.

Over the following months Romeo was a regular feature at the house. Tsuna was amused that his potential Lightning soon enough forgot to treat him as his appearance suggested and instead assumed he was as much of an adult as Reborn must be. Whenever Fon was at the house rather than off on a mission he would pull Tsuna aside for an hour at a time and teach him about mafia law and how it applied to the Vindice.

The second time Romeo showed up for dinner Daemon started in. “So what would you say your strengths are?” he asked.

Romeo looked surprised by the question, but readily enough said, “Infiltration, mostly. I can handle myself in a basic fight, but I’m not well-connected enough to get real training. I learned what I know on the streets.”

That caused Tsuna to frown in thought. Even if Romeo didn’t see it that way, he was responsible for the young man now, and training fell under that. If he ever wanted to be more versatile Romeo would have to make an effort to learn, and Tsuna needed to be the one offering. He could take what he had learned from Skull and Fon and pay it forward with Romeo.

“You ever killed anyone?” Daemon asked bluntly.

Romeo blinked and shook his head. “Never needed to.”

“Are you opposed to it?” Daemon asked just as bluntly.

“…If it came to it,” Romeo replied, “a choice between my life or my attacker’s? I’d do my damnedest to take him out.”

“You’ve been very effective so far,” Tsuna said, “but I’m offering you the option to become more effective. I will train you.”

That Romeo looked only mildly skeptical was to his credit.

“I know of families who start training their children to be assassins as early as three years old,” he continued, thinking mainly of Bovino and Estraneo. “It’s to your benefit to know how to handle small opponents. We have to make up for issues like reach in other ways, and you might not be expecting those. I take care of my people.”

“And they take care of you,” Skull muttered.

Tsuna flashed him a grateful smile and nodded. “That you do. We’re a family.” They were a Family, too, but that wasn’t as important to him. After all, being the head of a Family led people like Nono to think it was all right to use experimental and untested techniques on mere children. Not so bad as Estraneo, but still not good. To Romeo he said, “You’re usually on a job for part of the week, but I think we can manage at least two days a week for training.”

Romeo seemed a bit conflicted, but eventually nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Tsuna had ulterior motives, of course. He would never be able to determine if Romeo would suit as a guardian if he did not spend a fair amount of time with the man, but he also genuinely wanted to help him improve. If they were a good fit, then good, but if not Romeo would still be skilled, even if he eventually found a position elsewhere.

He walked around in slow circles as he waited for his heart to get itself under control and for his breathing to settle down. Who knew being trained by his tiny employer would be so draining? Even having agreed to it he had been skeptical of the value, but now he understood just how badly he could be trashed by a smaller opponent, and Sora was not afraid to do things that “manly” men would avoid.

It was humbling and humiliating to be taken down by someone the size of a two year old, repeatedly. Even more so when Sora admitted to only having a few years of training under his belt. Worse, he was given to understand that Arashi could take him down in seconds, and never be noticed doing it if he was so inclined. He sipped some water and continued his cool down walk. He had made the mistake of shrugging off the warnings the first time and paid for it dearly when his muscles seized.

When he had asked about the strange weapons Sora had seemingly created from nothing the answer he got flabbergasted him. Why had nobody ever told him about Flames of Dying Will? Finding out that they suspected he was a Lightning appeased him somewhat and he easily accepted the offer of training there.

But that led him straight to all the physical training. Apparently stamina was very important, knowing your body, and your limits, or what you could be pushed to. Sora promised that as soon as he was up to a certain level he would add in beginning exercises with flames. He was coming to genuinely enjoy Sora’s company. It was nothing specific, nothing in particular he could put his finger on, but still… He was surprisingly nice for what amounted to being a mafia boss. His boss.

People he had worked for in the past had been reasonably nice, but not very warm or even welcoming. Perhaps part of that was his lack of knowledge when it came to the more … supernatural … aspects of the mafia? Perhaps it was because he wasn’t born to a family. He had certainly never cared in the past. Times had sometimes been tight, but he usually made enough money to survive and often beyond that.

Working for Sora and spending so much time at the house helped him feel a sense of community, of belonging.

“Hey, you all right?” Sora was aiming a look of curious concern at him.

“Yeah, just deep in thought, I guess.”

“Okay. If you’re cooled down we can move on.”

He nodded and took a seat at the table there. So long as the weather cooperated they stayed outside.

“So, Dying Will Flames. The best way to describe them is to say they’re a form of high-density energy. They come from your life-force, but don’t take that to mean that using them shortens your life or anything. I mean, you use energy every day and it replenishes with food and rest. I suppose it’s possible to use so much so quickly that you can kill yourself, but most people would pass out before they got to that point, just like you can only run for so far before you keel over for a long nap.”

He smiled and nodded.

“The flames themselves have multiple variations. One is type. Another is purity. A third could be considered strength, but it’s interwoven with purity. We’re fairly certain you’re a Lightning, and the base quality for Lightning—or Thunder, as some choose to call it, though I fail to understand why—is hardening. Lightning Flames can be used to harden and increase the firmness of objects. They can also be used independently of an object, projected in the form of a barrier, or as a weapon, such as a blade or electricity. The basic role of a Lightning is to draw damage to himself and away from the rest of his allies, serving as a lightning rod of sorts.”

“And yours?”

“I am a Sky. The base property for Sky Flames is harmony.”

Maybe that explained some of the ease he felt around his employer?

“All flames can be used offensively, just some are better suited than others. For example, the base quality of Storm Flames is disintegration. Arashi told me once he actually used his flames to disintegrate the dust in one of his places rather than doing it the normal way,” Sora said with a grin.

He laughed. “Okay. What’s purity, then?”

“In a nutshell, your resolve and strength of will. The more resolve you have the purer the flames. Part of that can be mitigated by experience. But stronger purity means more effect. A relatively impure Storm Flame might only pit the surface of something. For Lightning, a fragile barrier that shattered easily. On the flip side, someone determined to protect could create a very strong barrier that gave himself or his allies time to deal with whatever problem.”

“And the other types?”

Sora nodded. “A Sun’s power is activation. That can mean regeneration, for healing, or augmentation, such as making muscles work more effectively for periods of time. A Rain’s power is tranquility, but offensively they are capable of doing things like freezing water. Imagine the horror if you were facing one in a heavy storm? A Cloud’s power is propagation, or replication. They throw a knife and it’s suddenly a dozen, as an example. Mist is construction, but what you’d most commonly see is illusions. Or rather, you might fear you’re losing your sanity. Those are the basics, though.”

“Okay. How do you draw them out? You made it look so easy.”

For some reason that sent Sora off into gales of laughter. When he finally got himself under control he said, “Let’s just say I had problems at first and leave it at that. But at some point it finally clicked in my head that it’s an extension of myself, of my will, and then it was much, much easier. I could work on refining it.” Sora raised his hand and a weapon appeared in the time it took to blink.

He looked at it curiously.

“It’s a kunai,” Sora explained. “They can be thrown, used to dig with, as an aid in climbing, to pin something in place, and of course, to stab people with. If my resolve slips it’ll vanish, no matter how solid it seems. It’s just compressed energy. And because it’s energy I can stab people and they won’t bleed out, even though it can be fatal. It takes a fair amount of time to learn to use your flames with any kind of surety, and using them in a potentially fatal situation can be a bit shaky at first.”

“Have you been in many?”

Sora sighed. “More than I’d like. You saw one attack. The one before that was two assassins. And before you ask, I killed them. I don’t like that I was forced to take lives, but I will defend my own. That ties back into resolve, which is important for using your flames.”

“I can see that. Is this kind of like how some people can perform amazing feats under duress, like the example I always seem to hear of a mother lifting a car off her child?”

Sora nodded. “Similar, yes. I think that’s more of a chemical reaction, but still similar. In some respects it’s no different than any other skill. Do you know languages other than Italian?”

“French.” Most people took a language option in school.

“And in the beginning, it took a lot of effort and concentration, perhaps a shift in the way you thought.”

“…Yeah, you could say that,” he agreed. He reached over to grab one of the tarts sitting on a snack tray that had been brought out and left covered.

“Same thing, or close enough. Now, to actually express flames or use them we’ll need to get you a ring to use as a focus. They’re made of a reactive metal and attuned to a flame type.” Sora thumbed the Earth ring he was wearing.

“You can’t do it without one?” he asked, not recalling any seeing any rings on Arashi or Kumo, though Kiri wore several.

“Under certain circumstances, yes, but that’s well beyond anything we’re dealing with right now. There are other items, as well, but rings are the accepted method. Easy to wear, even if not necessarily easy to afford.”

Romeo frowned. “How much would one cost me?”

Sora shook his head. “Nothing, unless you feel really strongly about paying me back for one, in which case I’d just take a percentage of your payment on jobs until it was paid for. You’re a part of this family, and family helps each other.”

He felt such a strange tightening in his chest at that. He had heard the words before when it had come up, but hadn’t assigned any real depth of meaning to them. Sora meant it. He still had no idea how they’d found him or why they had chosen to employ him, but aside from a certain measure of reserve from some of them he was treated warmly.

Sora seemed to understand he was feeling a bit befuddled or conflicted, and said, “It’s not for a bit, anyway, so don’t worry about it for the time being. For now I’ll continue on with an explanation of Dying Will Flames.”

Tsuna had realized fairly quickly that what little information he had from Bianchi was suspect. She had claimed her relationship with Romeo was horrible and fraught with problems. That might even have been true. But the implication was that Romeo was the source of the problems, and he was having a hard time seeing it. There were two issues which complicated that long ago discussion, and those were Bianchi’s age at the time and the presumed incompatibility of their flame types. As well, that he was in a different dimension and other things had already proven different.

He liked Romeo. He was stable and well-adjusted and, while skeptical at times, willing to listen, and more importantly, listen to an apparent two year old with every indication of sincerity. He was also doing his best during the training Tsuna was giving him. He knew someone like Reborn would accuse him of being too soft, but that only meant he had to keep training himself toward the day he arranged to crash that party.

He had never asked Skull or Fon in any detail about how they felt being Arcobaleno, or how hard the adjustment had been for them. Had they been forced to give up people they loved? Children? Had Reborn? The only one he had any clue about in that respect was Colonnello. It was not something he would ask about. He would rather listen if they wanted to talk. Some things were just too personal to bring up.

But Bianchi… That woman—girl, at present—was likely to be just as much of a menace. Though he, at least, should he manage to befriend and harmonize with Reborn, would _ask_ if Reborn would be upset at having his obsessed stalker redirected. On the other hand, he wondered, if he could harmonize with his once and never tutor, if Reborn would flip out in his very scarily quiet way and maim the girl for trying to harm his Sky, if not outright kill her.

Skull buzzed into his office with a wide grin on his face. “The house is ready!”

His brows rose. “Really?”

“Yeah! When are we moving?”

He was worried for a moment that Skull would bounce so hard he’d hit the ceiling. “Well, I’d like to inspect the place first, be sure the security is good, the usual stuff—then we can pack up and move.”

“Wahoo!” Skull cried and buzzed away.

Tsuna just shook his head in bemusement. The absolute last person he would have expected to have raptures over the new house was his Cloud. He got up and followed. Skull was in the kitchen chattering _at_ Fon. “Did somebody give him too much sugar?” he asked in an aside to Romeo.

“He did eat an entire bar of milk chocolate,” Romeo whispered.

Tsuna sauntered on up behind Skull and engulfed him in a hug, which caused his friend to go quiet. “Did somebody sneak something into the additions that I’m not aware of to make you this excited?”

“Um… I may have added a salt water pool for Oodako when you weren’t looking,” Skull said quietly.

“Oh. Okay,” he said agreeably, then squeezed before letting go. “So you guys want to check the place out now, or…?”

“I’ll get the car,” Daemon said.

The manor house was wonderful and, truthfully, much more than they needed. It also meant everyone could be anti-social if they wanted to and yet still be nearby. Romeo had a watery-eyed look of disbelief once he realized there was a suite for him—until he realized he was showing his emotions so nakedly, anyway. He sidled over to Tsuna to say softly, “Is that a hint?”

Tsuna shook his head. “It’s an option. And, as with anything else, not something I would offer if I was uncomfortable with the idea.” He had more or less accepted that he was actively trying to gain harmonization and had decided to save time and pave the way. Lodging was nothing to sneeze at, and if Romeo decided to move in it would positively impact his bank account. Tsuna just hoped like hell the man could actually actively use flames, because if not he would have to consider looking again. Either way, he had not spent all that time working with Romeo to discard him if he couldn’t.

“So, if you want to take the option…” He stared, though having to look up that far lessened the effect. Romeo’s eyes went watery again, so he patted the man’s arm and wandered off to the suite that would be his. It was way bigger than any bedroom needed to be, though he could see some advantage to having a desk in the outer room, comfy chairs, and bookcases. Having his own bathroom was also a wonderful thing. Having a bed that could fit two dozen of himself? Excessive.

He wandered back out and down to the ground floor. The kitchen was lovely and there was a separate dining area, though how much use it got remained to be seen. A library, training rooms, living areas (inside and out), his office, and other various rooms. “So, this weekend? I seem to recall that nobody should need to be anywhere on a job for a bit.”

They all nodded.

“Good,” he said with an answering nod. “We have a couple of days to pack, then.”

Daemon was invaluable for that with his constructs, and thankfully none of them had massive amounts of belongings to begin with. By Saturday night Tsuna was cooking dinner in his new kitchen, one he owned, thanks to Byakuran’s tip and his intuition.

After that it was back to the usual schedule of paperwork, jobs, investments, and training Romeo. Having him underfoot most of the time highlighted the differences between the two other Lightnings he had known passing well. It was probably too good to last, but he would enjoy it while it did. Daemon had obtained an S-rank Lightning ring and he had given it to Romeo during one of their sessions.

Romeo stared at it innocently banding his finger. “And I use this to help my flames function.”

“Mm.” He held up his hand and sparked flames off his Earth ring. “Once you know you can do it it’s like turning on a flashlight, though the batteries might seem a bit weak at first. You need resolve. You have to believe. You see right here I can do it. So can the others. So can you. That’s your exercise for now. Spark that ring. Once you can do that reliably, we’ll move on to the next step. Just don’t forget and absentmindedly practice off somewhere else.”

“I’m going to assume that this is like anything else mafia-related, then,” Romeo said. “Try not to have civilians as witnesses, but if you must…”

Tsuna nodded. “I’ve seen mafiosi do incredible things in the middle of a public space, but the civilians usually flee, thankfully. Don’t advertise it, but use it if you must. Otherwise there’d be no point in developing your skill. I didn’t hesitate to use my flames to defend myself, but I also went down that alley for the same reason, to limit exposure. It’s just luck that the only person who happened to stumble over it was connected.”

Romeo nodded thoughtfully. “Spark flames off the ring,” he said softly, staring at his hand.

“It helps if you have a reason for it,” Tsuna offered. “A goal. Maybe right now your goal is to prove you have the resolve to make that ring shine.”

Romeo looked up questioningly. “Your ring makes a reddish-brown flame, but your kunai are orange.”

“Ah. It’s not a Sky ring, but that’s for some other time. As a reminder, it’s red for Storm, orange for Sky, yellow for Sun, green for Lightning, blue for Rain, indigo for Mist, and violet or purple for Cloud.”

“And that?” Romeo asked, indicating the pacifier.

He shook his head. “Some other time.”

Romeo smiled resignedly and nodded. “Okay. So…” He went back to eyeing his hand and the ring.

Tsuna stepped away and began to work on tai chi to pass the time, yet still be available in case Romeo needed him. Fon wandered out and spotted him, then joined, saying quietly, “I put the data on your desk.”

“The Carsetti job?”

Fon nodded. “I noticed one from Skull, so he’s around somewhere, too. Or he drifted off, I’m not sure.”

“If he has, that’s fine. We’ve all been together quite a bit recently, after all.”

Fon chuckled.

He was just about to suggest they segue into a spar when a slice of green light caught his attention. Tsuna turned toward the table to see Romeo’s ring was crackling with Lightning Flames. He smiled widely and took a seat. “Good job. You got that really fast, and I’m impressed.”

Romeo returned the smile, and lost control of the manifestation. He frowned and sparked it again.

“There’s a lesson right there,” he continued. “Keeping your resolve for that while other things are going on. Here’s what I’d like you to practice. Start with five minutes at a time, keeping that ring lit. When you can do that reliably, bump it to ten. Then we’ll have to see about keeping that resolve while you’re doing something else, such as tai chi or even sparring.”

Romeo lost it again when he looked up. “And later on, using it for real.”

He nodded. “But don’t go overboard. It can be exhausting. Even beyond learning to shape it to some use is learning to only use it when you need it, to specific effect. Throwing out a quick shield, or Tasing someone, and still carrying a lot of whatever is going on with just your body or a weapon. Getting too deeply into flame use can make you act on instinct rather than conscious thought, and instinct isn’t always the right response. After all, running from a large predator in the wild is just as likely to get you killed as trying to fight the thing.”

“Yeah, though I don’t see myself going on safari anytime soon. So, okay, I can set aside an hour a day at first, get going with it. And when I think I have a good hold on it, you’ll step back in.”

“Right. And once we get to a certain point, we can test things like just how solid you can get a shield, perhaps by using both mundane and flame weapons. That way you could both know just how much they could take, and consider if you need to expend more effort to get them even stronger. Also, how they react to differing flame types.”

Romeo heaved a sigh, but nodded. “It’s a lot of work, but yeah. I mean, when you told me you guys thought I was a Lightning I was really stoked. You know, seeing you make those kunai… But I guess you don’t get what you want if you don’t make the effort. I kinda doubt anyone else would have gone to this much trouble to help me. I still don’t know why you have.”

“I had a feeling,” he replied. “And I told you, you reminded me of someone I once knew. It made me look closer. We found you had a good reputation, so I decided to take a chance. I hope you’re not unhappy…”

“What!? No, no. I’ve never had this much fun or been in such welcoming company. I was kind of a loner in school, really. Which, from what you’ve said about personality types is hilarious.”

Tsuna grinned. “Hey. Just because a bunch of seeds all come from an oak, it doesn’t mean all of them grow up exactly the same way. I don’t put much stock in the zodiac, either. It’s really simple to just assign people categories and stop seeing the minutiae.”

Romeo looked down for a moment, possibly in embarrassment.

“Hey, I got curious based on the surface appearance,” he reminded him. “That doesn’t mean it stays that way.”

Romeo’s gaze slid over to Fon for a moment, then back to Tsuna. “And your friends? Or are they guardians?”

Tsuna’s brow rose.

“I got curious, started thinking about things I’d seen before, power structures, did some discreet research. You’ve got a Cloud, Mist, and Storm. And a Lightning.”

Tsuna chuckled. “Yes, they’re guardians. As someone once told me, a lone Sky is painful thing.”

“Am I under consideration?”

“Yes. And try to keep that flame going while we talk.”

Romeo sparked his ring again. “What happens if I don’t … suit?”

“That depends. You do good work and I have no problem keeping you on if you want to keep working for me. If you do suit—and that’s something that depends on both of us, not just me—then you become a guardian. My question for you is to ask how much you even know about what that entails.”

“Oh, uh… Probably not enough. They sounded like a combination of bodyguards and top rank right hand man types, sort of,” Romeo said uncertainly.

Between one second and the next Fon was seated at the table and part of the conversation. “There is more to it, but essentially, yes.”

Romeo jumped enough to bang his knee on the underside of the table and sucked in a breath at the pain. “Right. More to it?”

“There’s a … connection,” Fon said. “It’s like a warm spot in your chest that never goes away and lets you know you’re never alone. But it’s only between each of us and Sora, not between each other. We’re _his_ guardians, though we guard each other when needful.”

“It’s the same,” Tsuna confirmed, “though since I have multiple connections…” He shrugged. “But yes, you know beyond question that you’re never alone.”

“How long does it take?”

Fon smiled faintly. “Depends. It took months for me, but part of that is learning to trust each other.”

Romeo looked at Tsuna, so he said, “Again, months for each for the foundation, but the literal formation of the connection is quick when it does happen.”

“There was that little matter of deaths being involved,” Fon muttered.

Romeo’s brows shot up and a worried look flitted over his face.

Tsuna coughed and said, “I harmonized with Arashi after I killed two assassins after me. Kumo and Kiri after someone close to me died.” He could tell Romeo wanted to know more about that, but not until and not unless they harmonized. “Hopefully just coincidence, because it’s a sick thought otherwise.”

“You’re not exactly like the usual mafia bosses I’ve heard of anyway,” Romeo said.

Tsuna shrugged. “I don’t exactly consider myself one, and it’s not like I have a territory carved out or anything. You dig your own hole when there isn’t one dug for you.”

“Hence information brokering.”

He nodded. “We don’t have a choice about being mafia, but we do have a choice how we participate.”

“Did you ever find out about those three your friend hauled off?”

He exchanged a look with Fon before saying, “Child prostitution and pornography. They like ’em young. The whole lot’s been taken care of.”

“Dolce is obviously connected to Gesso in some way, since this is their territory, but I suspect I would have to ask him directly to hope for an answer.”

He nodded again. “It’s just a suspicion, but I rather think he won’t answer unless we end up harmonizing.”

Romeo hummed, then grinned. “If we did, would I get to learn some of your secrets?”

“Yes.”

“Because I suspect names around here are a fluid thing.”

Tsuna cracked up. “Perhaps. But it’s also true that some Skies, for whatever reason, end up with guardians who take on themed names. One Sky I’m aware of has guardians named after various sweets. Another for flowers.”

“And speaking of those names… Maybe I’ll try learning another language. You’re using Japanese.”

“Yes,” he confirmed.

“Native?” Romeo asked, eyeing his obviously Asian features.

“Yes,” he said, deciding it wasn’t that personal, and it was unlikely Romeo would ever connect him to a missing child of the Vongola, assuming he was even aware of any of that, not with how that man had hidden them.

“I get the feeling I’m the only one who doesn’t know Japanese.”

Tsuna smiled. “To be fair, I only know four languages, but I’m working on a fifth. I’d also like to point out you’ve kept that flame going for quite a while now.”

Romeo looked down in surprise; his ring was still crackling with greenish flames.


	6. 06: 2009-2010

“Ciao, Uncle Reborn.”

He hopped onto a chair and tilted his hat back with a smile. “Aria. You know it’s always a pleasure to see you. What’s this about, though? Because your letter didn’t sound…” He shrugged.

She smiled back. “This will sound strange, I suppose, but you know I have that funny little talent, like Mother had.”

“And you saw something?” he ventured.

She hummed. “I can’t make much sense of it, though. I don’t know if Mother ever explained, but the more it happens the more vague it sometimes gets. I do know that someone is going to make you an offer soon, and that the best possible outcome would be for you to accept.”

His brow furrowed faintly. “A job?”

“Yes, but… Nothing normal, not a hit. It’s odd, whatever it is.”

He took a sip of the espresso that had been placed in front of him. “Best possible outcome?”

She bit her lip. “Not directly. Not immediately. But if you take it, it’ll lead to something you want.”

“Any thoughts on what that might be?” he asked curiously. Half the time he didn’t even know what he wanted, unless it happened to involve espresso or food.

She shook her head and said, “Just something you’ve held close. Maybe more, but definitely one.”

‘What on Earth could she mean?’ he wondered as he had another sip. He held a lot of things close, and most of them so closely he did his damnedest to never think about them. Hope was an almost foreign concept for him, after all, and why drown in despair?

“We’re having ossobuco for lunch,” she said. “Can you be tempted to stay?”

He hummed happily. “Feed me.”

When February rolled around Tsuna remembered that Dino had turned seventeen and it was time for Reborn to become his tutor—assuming that aspect stayed the same. He was not sure of the exact date when Reborn started, but if he asked Daemon to check, or asked Byakuran to keep an ear to the grapevine… Either way, he wanted to wait until the issue of Romeo was settled, and to give Reborn a chance to get comfortable as a tort—tutor.

‘And speak of the devil,’ he thought as Daemon strolled in with a blank look. “I don’t like that look.”

Daemon shook his head slowly and gestured for him to follow. Tsuna frowned and got up to follow; they ended up in one of the training rooms. Daemon closed the door, then waved a hand, seemingly for no reason. “I don’t think you will like what I’m about to tell you,” he said.

“I guess that means that man didn’t fall off a cliff or something,” he joked.

Daemon looked him in the eye. “Tsuna. Iemitsu … remarried.”

“…Nani?” The next thing he knew half the training room was destroyed and he was panting, from anger? Effort?

Daemon picked him up and held him close.

“I didn’t think it still hurt so much,” he whispered.

“You did a beautiful thing when you tried so hard to get closer to your mother,” Daemon said quietly. “It was heartbreaking when she was stolen from you. I can understand how it must hurt to know that he’s…”

“Moved on?”

“Perhaps. In part, at least, so soon.”

“Or entirely. I know, people do. Most people don’t mourn forever or hold that memory so close.”

Daemon chuckled at the unintended barb and laid his cheek atop Tsuna’s head for a moment.

“So who is it?” He half did and half did not want to know, but knowing was better in the long run, just in case.

“Some desk jockey at CEDEF going by Calea.”

“That man is married to his work,” he said bitterly, “but at least this time he’s gone for someone who’s in the know. I’ve always wondered if my mother was just a pretty princess from some fairy tale for him. He met her when she was a waitress in a restaurant, you know? She used to get lessons off-shift, to help her learn more cooking. Her parents had her late in life and… I guess I never wanted to think about him moving on, because it was always about what he wanted, what delusions he was spinning in his head about his perfect life, his—” He shook his head.

“I hesitate to bring it up, but there remains the possibility he’ll have more children,” his Mist said softly.

He sighed; hearing it said hurt for some reason. “Yeah. Any other news I should know while I’m still in a good place to explode?”

“One good and one neutral,” Daemon replied. “The neutral is that thus far Hayato is still at home.”

He nodded.

“The good is that Reborn has agreed to take up tutoring.”

That brought a smile back to his face. “He’ll be torturing Dino?”

“Yes.”

“I sometimes still feel so bad for him.”

Daemon took a seat on one of the benches along the wall and shifted Tsuna in his arms. “Because he had to…”

“You don’t have to be delicate,” he said, giving his Mist a ‘look’. “Trying to train someone broken. This one will never know just how much of an influence he had on this stranger he’s going to meet, this Sky Arcobaleno he’s been looking for. I’m no longer that boy who associated flames with pain and fear and humiliation, or lack of control. I may understand what Nono’s intentions were, but he ruined me.”

“And then you saved Byakuran, and he saved you in return.”

“And you.”

“All right, so I’m no longer completely lost to reason,” Daemon said. “And I have you. Which, admittedly, I was not expecting when I visited to say I planned to cause a little mayhem.”

Tsuna almost giggled. “I guess I got lucky. Something really nice as reparations for the last go around?” Of course, that made him remember what had happened just previous and he sobered up.

Daemon rested his chin atop Tsuna’s head, as if sensing the change in mood, again.

He took in his new view, decided he had an unhealthy attachment to sanity, and said, “You have a very nice neck, you know?”

His Mist went still for a moment, then drew back slowly so he could look Tsuna in the eyes. He seemed to be amused, but Tsuna could not quite be sure of that. “Thank you.”

“…You’re welcome.”

“What about the rest of me?” Daemon teased.

Tsuna was horrified to realize his face had heated up, which meant he’d blushed.

“Excellent!” he praised. Romeo had managed to project a shield to ward off the foam kunai Tsuna had been flinging at him with deadly accuracy. “You’re really getting the hang of this!”

Romeo smiled a little more widely than usual and gestured for him to continue.

Over the next hour Romeo became more proficient in getting a shield between himself and incoming projectiles, but Tsuna could see the signs of exhaustion setting in, so he relaxed and began collecting his fake weapons.

“I can keep going!”

He shook his head. “You know better,” he admonished. “You’re starting to tremble, Romeo. It’s time for a break. Possibly time to stuff you full of food.”

Romeo sounded off a flat raspberry and nodded. “Starting to see why boss types are so often called grandfather.”

Tsuna paused in his rounds and said, “Are you implying that I’m doing the male equivalent of mothering you?”

His Lightning smirked. “More like babying me?”

His eyes went wide. “You little…” He formed and threw kunai so quickly Romeo had no chance to react. Seconds later Romeo was pinned to the wall; but instead of being shocked his Lightning just laughed. He sighed at having allowed himself to be baited and released the weapons.

Romeo stepped forward and began helping him clean up.

Once that was done they walked slowly inside to the kitchen, where drinks and snacks were produced. “We’ll keep on with that for a while yet, but once you think you’ve really got it we can move up to real sparring.”

“Do you ever go out on jobs?” Romeo asked.

“Only in the very beginning,” he said with a shake of his head. “We needed all of us out there, and experience is something everyone needs.” Never mind that it had been his honest introduction to stealth beyond what Skull had taught him, and he’d had the enormous advantage of Daemon’s anklet. “If it was needful now? Sure. But the thing is, guardians tend to go a bit insane if their Sky is wandering around alone outside protections.”

Romeo snickered quietly. “You get into trouble even when they are with you. I suppose I can understand that. Well, I think if it happens, that’d be great. I’d like to harmonize with you. And—”

Tsuna felt the warmth in his chest blossom another aspect and smiled wryly. “Welcome, Lightning Guardian Romeo.”

“I—” Romeo looked stunned and had one hand to his chest. “Oh, wow. I understand now. It’s like an almost tangible reminder of how I feel, and how you must feel, even if we never say it out loud. It’s amazing.”

He patted Romeo’s other hand understandingly. If he had one true regret for his past life aside from the relationship with his mother, it would be this, missing out on harmonization. Reborn had done his best, but he’d been working with flawed, broken material. He pulled his phone out and sent off a brace of text messages, to let the others know, while Romeo was lost to the new bond.

He shortly got back replies and thought about what he could make for dinner, for everyone, since they would be returning home, at least briefly. Deciding to go for middle of the road he set about making sauce for stuffed chicken parmigiana.

The others managed to show up at exactly the right time. Tsuna was just pulling dinner out of the oven when they swept into the kitchen. Skull promptly zipped over to the refrigerator and pulled out the expected salad, and Fon set the table with Daemon’s help. Romeo went to get wine.

Once they were finally all seated and served Daemon said, “So…”

“Well,” he replied, casually brushing his fingers over his pacifier.

Fon and Skull exchanged a look, then nodded.

Tsuna eyed his Mist, who had a look on his face he interpreted as agreement on that point, so he said, “Okay, the biggest secret, Romeo, that you’ve only partially caught onto, is that of the Arcobaleno.”

“What do rainbows have to—uh…” Romeo’s brow furrowed. “Okay, stupid question the way I meant it.” He took a bite of his chicken and waited.

He smiled. “In this sense, Arcobaleno is the term for the strongest seven, the top for each flame, and all of us are … tiny.”

Romeo’s gaze flicked over to eye Fon and Skull for a moment. “So that Reborn guy is one, too. Why isn’t he here?”

“He’s on my to-do list,” Tsuna replied. “My real name is Tsuna, by the way.”

The others chimed in with theirs.

“And—this is the part that you’re going to have trouble with.”

“Oh?” Romeo’s brow arched up.

He laughed nervously. “Yeah. I’ll be nine years old this year.”

“You’re shitting me, man. This is like the initiation joke or something?”

Everybody at the table shook their heads. “No, that really is his age,” Daemon said. “I’ve known Tsuna his entire life. He’s—” He looked at Tsuna, who nodded. “He’s a Vongola by blood, a direct descendant of Vongola Primo.”

“But—why aren’t you with them? I mean, I can’t imagine they’d just—” Romeo flailed a hand around in confusion.

“I was kept a secret for the most part,” Tsuna replied. “For my safety, supposedly, though that didn’t stop assassins from murdering my mother. Skull, Daemon, and I left Japan the next day. You should know I wholeheartedly despise my father.”

“Do I dare ask?”

Tsuna shrugged. “He’s the current head of CEDEF, Iemitsu Sawada. In the unlikely event you run across him you’ll know to be cautious. After all, I’m missing, possibly presumed dead. The only ones who know the story are my guardians and Dolce.”

“Oh.” Romeo looked thoughtful. “Does that mean you’re an heir?”

“Technically, yes. I’m fourth in line. Fifth if Xanxus still counts,” he said dubiously. “But unless they somehow figure out I’m alive or I tell them, I won’t be under consideration.”

“Then by my count I’m unaware of three other Arcobaleno,” Romeo said.

“Colonnello is Rain. Last I checked he works at Mafia Land. Mammon is the Varia Mist. The final one is Lightning Verde, a scientist. And before you ask, those assassins I mentioned a ways back?”

“Yeah?”

“They were sent by Verde. Seems he did not appreciate an offer of funding. But he has no idea he tried to assassinate a fellow Arcobaleno. I’ll save that information for if and when it becomes useful.”

Romeo frowned. “Did you do anything? Retaliation? At all?”

Daemon laughed creepily. “I did. I sent back an unmistakable message. Verde threw an epic temper tantrum when he got it.”

“Right.” Romeo shook his head and went back to eating.

Afterward Fon hauled Romeo off to firmly impress upon him the duties of a guardian while the rest cleaned up.

“Tsuna.”

He looked up from his manicotti and paused. “I know that look. I’m not going to like this.”

Daemon offered a humorless smile as the other guardians all watched. “Ienari Sawada was born two days ago.”

Tsuna looked down at his meal and ate more of it. He had known it was probable; now it was fact. He wondered how many more would be born as the years rolled by. “I trust that man will forgive me for not sending the usual.”

“You know as well as I do that the knowledge will be strictly limited. Sending the usual card would only send him into fits of paranoia.”

He almost laughed. Much as he disliked his father, the child was innocent. And this one likely had far better protection from the start. “Probably. And I’d rather not imply that the Sky Arcobaleno cares that much about the man’s family as to be keeping an eye on him. It might have the opposite effect and swell his head further.”

Daemon sneered. “In other, more amusing news, Reborn is gleefully torturing his student.”

He did laugh then. “Good to know. I need to plan out my approach.”

“You’re going after him soon?” Romeo asked.

“Yeah. Daemon got the foundation in place, so we just need the right scenario.”

“He’s super smart, Tsuna,” Skull said. “He’s probably going to see through this.”

He smiled. “Probably. Doesn’t mean I won’t have fun tweaking his nose.”

Skull chortled happily. “You plan to spy on him at all?”

Tsuna bit his lip. “Don’t know. It’d piss him off, I expect. But I did it to you and Fon, so, it’d only be fair.”

“If you want to,” Daemon said, “coordinate with me. That way I can ensure you don’t peek in when he’s in a situation where it’d cause problems.”

He nodded. It would be unfortunate if he did so when Reborn’s inattention toward Dino could result in injury, or worse.

“Peek in?”

He smiled at Romeo. “It’s an ability I have as the Sky Arcobaleno to take a long distance look at what another Arcobaleno is doing. I assume Sky only, anyway, because of the harmony aspect. That and because I sat down and reconciled in my mind exactly what the roles of each guardian are and how I felt about them. The roles, not the people in them, I mean,” he said, twisting the truth a bit.

Romeo simply nodded, so he knew Fon had thoroughly grounded the young man on that score. He already knew Fon had taken over half the training to ensure his Lightning was progressing when it came to physical fighting, focusing again on defense first.

“I have some ideas,” Daemon said, then smiled in a way that made Tsuna shudder before forking up more of his dinner. Later that evening, in the privacy of Tsuna’s suite, Daemon said, “It’s … insane.”

“Kami-sama,” he muttered.

“But before I get into that, I checked on the way in—”

“It’s a wonder you didn’t crash into a wall, then,” he commented.

“—and Reborn is presently safe to spy on,” Daemon finished with a glare.

“Okay.” For this one he closed his eyes as he reached up to hold his pacifier. His mental eyes opened to show Reborn in the act of freezing mid-sentence. A pulse of flame went out in the split second it took for him to continue what he was saying. He somehow made it seem like the hitch was entirely purposeful, but that was Reborn for you.

“You don’t really mean that, do you?” Dino asked, a pleading look on his face.

“That look has ever worked, when?” Reborn said, smirking smugly even as Leon was tasting the air with his tongue.

“But—Reborn!” Dino whined.

Tsuna released his hold and opened his eyes. “He’s good. He barely even twitched.”

“Well, we can arrange for a few more times,” Daemon said, “though the more you look the more twitchy he’s going to get. But—”

‘Do you break off like that for dramatic effect or something?’ he thought, then scowled when Daemon smirked suddenly. “Stop reading my mind, damn it.”

“Either way, this one time is going to set him off balance and on guard. He’s going to be expecting the other shoe to drop. He’s highly intelligent and may come up with a response plan even faster than Skull did.”

“I’m getting the feeling you’re leaning toward not peeking again, so that this is his only warning that the world is going to tilt soon,” he guessed.

His Mist nodded, a sly smile creeping in. “So, this idea…”

Tsuna skipped along the edge of the drive leading to the Cavallone mansion, diverting frequently to chase after butterflies and squeal happily. He pretended not to notice the arrow formation of flies that buzzed off toward the manor house and continued acting like a starry-eyed two year old on holiday from parental control. He accidentally-on-purpose managed to get all the way to the circular drive out front before anyone challenged him, and at that it was Dino.

“Hey there, little guy,” Dino said soothingly as he tried to pretend he hadn’t just tripped over thin air. “Where are your parents?”

Tsuna beamed a smile at him and waved, momentarily stunning the blond when Daemon, who was blending into the scenery somewhere, caused sparkles to appear and a rainbow to halo over Tsuna’s head. “Ciao!”

“Uh…”

Tsuna thrust his arms up in a universal demand and beamed again. “Up!” Dino staggered back from the assault and almost fell over. When Dino did not immediately comply he repeated, more forcefully, “Up!”

“Okay, right,” Dino muttered, and came close enough to pick Tsuna up and settle him on one hip. Tsuna just prayed his once older brother didn’t trip and smash him into the dirt. “Um, you haven’t said. Where are your parents, little guy?”

“You can be my daddy if you want,” he chirped as Dino carried him through the tunnel and into the inner courtyard, enjoying being able to freak out someone who had once used his position to do the same to him.

Dino squeaked and tripped again, but saved them both from a painful meeting with the ground. “But don’t you have a daddy already?” he asked in a panic.

Tsuna patted his arm fondly. “But I like you!” he chirped. “And I have no idea where my daddy is. Maybe on a pirate ship?” He gasped. “Maybe he’s secretly learning how to be a ninja?”

Dino laughed nervously and started looking around for help of some kind. Romario appeared on the upper walk and started down, which made Dino heave a sigh of relief, but Tsuna simply beamed at the man and waved. Daemon’s cracked ideas kicked in and Romario nearly tumbled the remainder of the way down in a move better suited to the young master.

Reborn decided to get involved at that point and strutted out of hiding to stare piercingly.

“Ciao!” he said brightly and waved. “I’m Sora!”

Reborn, being no fool and ridiculously perceptive, somehow spotted the concealed pacifier—perhaps it was the chain he noticed?—and said, “You’re telling me _He_ picked some random Japanese person to be the Sky Arcobaleno?”

‘Well, damn,’ he thought with a vague pout. He had worn the pacifier backward and under a hoodie, but that obviously was not enough for Eagle Eye over there. Of course, there was that little matter of not wearing the net over it… He patted Dino on the arm again and said, “Down, please.”

Dino twitched and set him down, deciding to pose for a dictionary picture for the word “confusion”.

Tsuna’s brow went up once he was the same level as Reborn. “I hardly think the choice was random,” he said, dropping the act completely, “or are you implying that my flame strength and purity is in question?”

Reborn’s eyes narrowed at the challenge. “That remains to be seen,” he said. “How about you show me? Have a little spar with my student here?”

Tsuna eyed Dino, trying not to let his residual fondness show, then turned his attention back to Reborn. “Rules?”

“Well…” Reborn idly ran a finger down the barrel of his gun as he contemplated the situation.

Dino freaked, his hands going out to flail around in a panic. “W-what? I don’t even want to have anything to do with any of this!” he cried, then shrieked when Reborn shot a bullet past his face.

“What weapon do you use?” Reborn finally asked.

“Usually just myself and my flames.”

“Wait a minute!” Dino objected. “Sky Arcobaleno!?”

Tsuna shot a dubious look at Dino, then returned his attention to Reborn. “Does your student suffer from comprehension issues?”

“He’s a little skittish. Still working on that.”

“I see. I’m sure you’ll do a fine job,” he said confidently.

Reborn smirked. “I always do.”

“Um, hey?” Dino said.

Reborn fired again. “Just you and your flames, huh?”

“Hai.”

“And you’re just wandering around the countryside, unguarded.”

Tsuna giggled merrily. “I know you’re not that stupid.”

“So you do have guardians.”

Tsuna licked his lips. “Are you applying? Because I might have an opening you could … fit into.” A part of him was dying of embarrassment inside over what amounted to flirting with the Sun. But if he was not mistaken, Reborn was amused.

“Depends on a lot of things,” Reborn replied, “including how you use your tools. So let’s see you in action.”

“Again, rules?”

“Well, don’t kill him, obviously. Try not to maim him too badly.”

Dino had a fresh freak out, but stayed, which was interesting to Tsuna considering the number of times he himself had bolted when something he didn’t want to face was thrown at him. It increased his respect for Dino. “I can work with that,” he said, then advanced deeper into the courtyard.

A few more bullets got Dino to skitter closer and shakily uncoil a whip. Tsuna flashed back to his first time using one and almost blushed. “You ready?” he asked kindly.

Dino’s expression screamed no, but he nodded.

“I’ll let you start,” he offered.

Dino did know how to use the whip, even then, but he could tell the blond absolutely did not like the idea of using it against someone his size. The first crack went so wide. He nodded and created two telescoping kunai, one per hand, then dashed forward as they extended, and used them to vault up higher and spin.

Dino went flying back when he was kicked and hit the wall in time for more kunai to pin him in place. Tsuna landed lightly and shook his head, then flung one behind him to intercept a bullet. “No fair,” he said, looking over his shoulder. He turned and approached Reborn, letting the kunai holding Dino dissolve. “He’s pretty young, I see. Resistant, from what I heard. I have no doubt you’ll whip him into shape.”

Reborn twitched in an aborted eye roll. “I forgot how you Japanese love puns.”

He beamed a smile, sparkles and rainbow halo appearing again.

“Would you stop that,” Reborn said testily. “We are not in an anime.”

Tsuna giggled in genuine mirth.

“Why are you even here?”

He let his eyes go wide. “I have a meeting with the Cavallone Nono,” he said. “Meeting you was a wonderful bonus. And your cute little student.”

Reborn stared, then froze for a split second when a disguised Daemon popped up behind Tsuna and snatched him into his arms.

“It’s time, Sora.”

“Okay,” he chirped.

“Let me guess,” Reborn said flatly. “Kiri?”

“You got it, Taiyo!” he replied. “The question is, do you want it?”

Daemon walked away, toward Romario, without giving Reborn a chance to respond, but he could hear Dino saying, “What do those words mean?”

Reborn frowned, but the expression was quickly wiped away before he spun around to stare at Dino. “That was pathetic, you pipsqueak.”

“But he’s so tiny!” Dino protested.

His brow went up in disbelief. “Are you implying that you think my size makes me any less lethal?”

Dino figuratively backpedaled, shaking his head violently.

“Laps, my dear student, for even entertaining the idea!” he ordered. He didn’t even have to lift his gun as a threat; Dino dashed off to begin. He kept a covert watch on his student as he ran the encounter with the Sky Arcobaleno over in his mind.

‘Is this what Aria meant?’ he wondered. ‘I don’t believe in coincidence. I take this job and end up meeting the one person I’ve been looking for, not all that long into it? He as much as flat out said he was willing to entertain me as a guardian. The little bastard practically dared me.’ He took a moment to fire a warning shot when Dino slowed down.

‘On the other hand, I would not be the first,’ he groused. ‘Whoever that Mist is he’s good. I didn’t even fucking notice him until he decided to show himself, even though I knew he had to be here somewhere. Not Viper, though, no way in hell. I think he charges if you so much as breathe his air these days.’

He ran over the encounter again. ‘Interesting tactics. Never seen that before. He was being gentle with Dino, but it still showed some of what he could do. Oddly enough, he doesn’t seem the least bit upset about being cursed. Or he’s just that good of an actor. Do I—my God. Do I try?’

Later that day he met with the Cavallone Nono to discuss Dino’s progress. In between topics he said casually, “We had a visitor today.”

Nono broke out into a smile. “What a charming you—well, we have no idea how young or how old, do we. I’ve used Welkin’s firm for years.”

“I missed the memo on that,” he said reluctantly, not that Nono would hear such in his voice. ‘Welkin?’ he thought. ‘How many variants on the same word does he use?’

“Oh, wonderful firm,” Nono practically gushed. “Efficient, discreet, reliable. I admit, I was slightly hesitant at first, them being so new, but I have never regretted it. I gave them a test job first, of course.”

He was just about to ask just exactly what they did when Nono added, “They’ve been of great assistance in tracking down the men trying to nibble at my flanks.”

‘Information brokers, then,’ he thought, ‘though I could have done without that image.’ He slid back into a discussion of Dino’s progress, and later, back in his own suite, debated his options.

Skull laughed himself silly over their description of the visit. He was still chuckling when he took off on a job. Fon returned from his and displayed a small smile of amusement. Romeo just enjoyed the atmosphere, never having met Reborn, but he laughed loudly over Tsuna’s description of Daemon’s special effects, then staggered back when Tsuna beamed at him and Daemon obliged with more of the same.

“Good God,” Romeo said breathlessly. “That there’s one serious bit of weirdness.”

“But effective,” Daemon said smugly.

It took a week, but a letter arrived through the usual channels, from Reborn. It was nothing special, just a short note that mentioned how interesting their meeting had been. ‘His way of expressing interest? I doubt he’d be blunt with an associate as opposed to a student.’

“He’s very cagey, depending on the situation,” Fon opined. “This is definitely interest.”

“Will you help me write a reply?” he asked. “I don’t know that anyone could claim to know him well, but you’ve known him for ages.”

“Of course. I admit, a part of me…”

“Wants to tweak his nose?” he asked with a faint grin.

Fon smiled again. It was a gradual thing, but around Tsuna, at least, he was far more open in demeanor. For outsiders it was that cool, serene smile that conveyed a hint of amusement for the world in general, but never any depth. Skull was much the same. To outsiders he was a bit loud, a bit arrogant, and seemed to try too hard. With them he was boisterous, earthy, and genuine. It did, unfortunately, mean having to listen to more than a few raunchy comments about women, but Tsuna just shrugged those off.

Of interest was that Fon and Skull did not receive messages from Reborn about him. Skull was expected, but Fon? Tsuna wondered if Reborn’s friendly rival got one, or if Reborn was being cautious—selfish?—to keep everyone out of the loop. He and Fon devised a reply, had Daemon look it over for a second opinion, then sent it off.

It was while they were waiting on a reply that Daemon shared some information of interest. “One of my spies witnessed Enrico being torn apart in a gun fight.”

Tsuna groaned.

Romeo looked between them, confusion evident, but said nothing.

Quince decided to flutter into the room, despite it being broad daylight, and settled on his perch. “Worried they’ll all go the same way?”

“Yes, of course.”

“You shouldn’t assume they all will, but you should probably prepare in case they do.”

“I don’t want to come out of hiding,” he whined.

“Do you plan to meddle?” Quince asked bluntly.

He sighed.

“Because you already know your father is out of the running. What happens if they all die to rivals, and none of Iemitsu’s children are Skies?”

“Surely one of them will be!” he protested.

“Say that one is. Then what? Ienari was only just born. You’re already quite a bit older.”

Quince didn’t have to follow that line through to its logical conclusion. With no proof of his demise they would start looking again, should Massimo and Federico also die. Ienari would be all of four to Tsuna’s thirteen. A boy that age would be nothing but a pawn and certainly dead if the Varia managed to free Xanxus ahead of schedule. “Fuck.”

“Tsuna,” Quince said patiently, “stop freaking out. Plan for the worst, but don’t assume it’ll go that way. And also, try to remember you have guardians and you’re working on completing the set? You are never alone. You are not a lost little boy.”

‘Well, technically I’m all three,’ he thought with a hint of amusement. “All right. You’re right to push the issue. It only hurts me in the end if I slide off into denial.”

Quince nodded. “You’re welcome. Now… Some fruit, perhaps?”

He smiled and went to fetch some, then tucked himself into a chair with a book he wouldn’t be reading to think about his options. It always came back to the same question: did he have the right to meddle? Had he not already? And Daemon was just one man. Spies were one thing, but those same spies could not _be_ Daemon, just extra sets of eyes or weak hands.

‘You know what? It’s Vongola’s problem,’ he told himself. ‘Yes, I may get dragged back into all this, but it’s on their heads, the lives of their heirs. The only damn reason they didn’t completely fail with me is because I wasn’t there, so they basically still failed. I am not responsible for their mistakes or their laxity, only for my own. I will continue to try to win Reborn, then move on to Colonnello. I will have my family. And if it happens, we, as a family, can prepare.’

The little café he was enjoying made the best cannoli. Reborn slipped into a seat between one heartbeat and the next, so Tsuna smiled. “Konnichiwa, Taiyo!” he said happily.

“Ciaossu, Sora,” Reborn said evenly.

“I haven’t ordered yet,” he assured the man, “but I am looking forward to the sweets they have. The tiramisu is very good.”

Reborn stared for a moment, then said, “Are you fond of coffee?”

He shook his head. “More of a tea person,” he said as he twinkled his fingers at a server. A girl hastened over and cooed at them, calling them adorable. Tsuna beamed an innocent smile her way and watched her melt. “Ciao!” he chirped. “Daddy gave me some money so we could play pretend grown-ups!” he said proudly.

“Oh, I could just eat you right up,” she cooed.

Tsuna giggled, then tried to look very adult. “I would like to order some of your finest chocolate milk to start,” he said importantly.

She sighed and jotted that down, then turned her adoring gaze on Reborn.

“Espresso, please.”

The girl looked a bit taken aback by the choice, but Reborn gave her a heart-melting smile and she caved. A minute later she was back with the drinks and away again with their orders. Tsuna busied himself with people watching until after she slid the plates on the table and departed. “We all have our ways, I suppose,” he commented.

“When you’ve been around as long as I have,” Reborn said as he picked up his fork, “you learn how to … translate.”

He nodded and sent out a quick pulse of—‘Okay, I really need to stop reading Naruto manga,’ he thought, ‘because I will actually call it chakra at some point and embarrass myself.’—flames to ensure his milk and cannolo were untainted, then had a sip.

A quick, secretive smile flitted over Reborn’s mouth. “Good to know you can do that.”

“I assume you can do the same, even if not necessarily in quite the same manner,” he replied. He didn’t think a non-Sky could check for disharmony in what he consumed.

“Of course.”

“As much as I enjoyed playing the last time we met, I’d prefer to be more blunt.”

“Go on,” Reborn said, placing another bite of tiramisu into his mouth.

“I spent a fair amount of time when first I awoke like this considering whom to contact, and you came to mind straight off. However, your reputation is not something to be … ignored. To be frank, you were intimidating.” Tsuna was amused to see a smug look flicker over Reborn’s face. “I decided I would have to establish myself first or you would never take me seriously.” He paused to have a bite of his cannolo.

“The ninth speaks of you and your firm quite favorably,” Reborn commented.

“I am pleased to hear that, and my men will be also. They work hard. I also had to acquaint myself with my changed circumstances. Work out the kinks. Once I did, naturally I thought I’d check around and see where you were.”

“You have some way to spy on us.” It was not a question.

Tsuna had a sip of milk before answering. “Of course. I’m going to assume Luce never used it.”

Reborn’s brow shot up. “How do you know that name?”

A smile curved his mouth. “I know a lot of things, but I don’t always share unless my heart is involved.” Not quite beating Reborn over the head with a clue hammer, but close enough.

“You will never be Luce.”

“Good,” he replied, still smiling.

Reborn’s eyes narrowed and he had more tiramisu.

“There was a second issue regarding you,” he said, then diverted to have more of his treat.

Reborn waggled his fork impatiently and had a sip of his espresso.

“Mm, frisky. I like that. It’s very simple, Taiyo. I’d heard some rumors and had to investigate. Why even consider risking a bond with a potential guardian who isn’t himself?”

His former tutor frowned.

“Would it even mean anything if your memories truly had been tampered with? I was pleased to find out that wasn’t accurate. I can accept a lot of things, like bitterness, because I’m bitter myself about a number of things. But someone who’d deliberately had his memories tampered with? As a cheap escape? No. Once I addressed my two concerns I had a peek, then arranged a meeting to see you in person.”

“You’re giving me a chance based on that.”

Tsuna shook his head. “I’m giving _us_ a chance. You may end up not liking me, after all.”

“Point,” Reborn conceded. “I am contracted to a long-term job, however.”

“Yes, I know,” he said teasingly. “Irrelevant, also, as I’d be the last person to suggest you went back on an agreement. But surely you aren’t with the young master every hour of every day. You and I can go on play dates!” he chirped, then grinned at their approaching server.

“Are you two doing all right here?” she cooed.

“We’re fine,” Tsuna said with a firm nod. “When I grow up can we get married?”

The girl blushed and giggled. “You are so cute! Okay, I’ll be back in a bit to check on you.” She wandered off, giggling quietly.

“Play dates, huh?” Reborn said with a smirk.

“Or I could be your super cool teaching assistant every so often. I have a business to run, but I have time for the things I want. Getting to know the heir of one of my clients wouldn’t be a hardship. He seems like a nice kid and I think he’ll be one fantastic Sky.” He smiled in fond remembrance of just how competent—so long as he had one of his men nearby—and kind Dino had been.

“I can ask the ninth if that would bother him,” Reborn said, not shooting the idea down. “But depending on where you’re based out of that might be one hell of a trip.”

“You let me worry about that.” He really wished they could risk using Daemon’s warping ability, though. Close to eight hours in a car was never something to look forward to. It was even worse by train. “I’d rather meet with you in a place you’re comfortable, rather than on edge looking for complications from idiots too stupid resist temptation.”

Reborn looked smug again. “I _am_ good. People like to test themselves against me at times.”

“At the risk of fluffing your ego, yes, you’re very good.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Reborn said graciously. “Though Dino is not exactly a proper test. Why those?”

“I wanted something that couldn’t be taken from me,” he said with a shrug. “Although they cauterize wounds, as I’ve discovered.”

Reborn’s brow went up.

“Mm. I was attacked and stabbed one of them in the side of the knee to disable him. After all three were down I noticed it.”

“Disable? Not kill.”

“Hai. I’m friends with the heir of the territory it happened in, so I called him and he had his people collect the trash for interrogation. If it was bigger than just those three, well…”

Reborn nodded. “I see. Makes sense.” He tensed a second later.

Tsuna’s gaze slid sideways to see a chibi version of Daemon bouncing their way. The second he got close enough the remainder of his cannolo was stolen and popped into Daemon’s mouth. He sighed in resignation. “I take it it’s that time?”

Daemon nodded, obviously enjoying his bounty.

“You know, if you like them that much, you could have just asked me to make some for dessert.”

His Mist laughed creepily. “I already paid the bill.” Then he turned to Reborn. “Ciao, Taiyo.”

“Kiri.”

“Okay, well. Unfortunately, duty calls,” he said to Reborn. “Let me know.”

“I will do so.”

Tsuna had a last sip of his milk and slipped off his chair. Daemon took his arm and they walked off. The second it was safe Daemon reconfigured himself to adult form and picked Tsuna up, but it was not until they were in the car that either of them said anything.

“What do you plan to send him?”

“A nice big thing of tiramisu. He’s pretty well obsessed with coffee, anyway. I’ll have to check to see what else I could make for little care packages.”

“Aw, my little Tsu-kun, courting his Sun,” Daemon teased.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I would say seal it with your flames, but…”

“Right. That’s a Vongola thing. Wait. I wonder how long something I, ah—I don’t know what word to use. For when I make the kunai appear.”

“Materialize?”

He shrugged. “Okay. I don’t know how long one would last. I could, in theory, band a box with my flames, except I’d only know to let them dissolve if you were watching the whole time. Maybe some other time? I don’t know.”

“Just use your usual symbol for now,” Daemon advised.

“Okay. And there’s nothing saying I can’t test the idea on the side. Wait, wait.” He tried to think back. “The missives Nono sent during that whole Varia mess stuck around because they were at the top of each paper. But if they’d been done as a seal?”

“Yes, that might disrupt the flames.”

“I’ll test it when we get home, then.” It was the first thing he did once he gained his office. A piece of paper was fetched out and tri-folded, then he placed a Vongola-style seal on it. Daemon picked it up and opened it; the brilliant orange flames sputtered out. Seeing that, Tsuna rooted around for a spare box and started working on a sort of ribbon of his flames, to band the box with.

He went through half a dozen failures before he laughed. “I’ll just keep practicing. Maybe if I can get it down I can also get that symbol ‘etched’ into it.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” Daemon said, then wandered off.

Reborn stared at the box in his hands with a healthy mixture of anticipation and suspicion. Sora had obviously sent it; there was a “ribbon” around the box made from flames, and the odd, steampunk-inspired compass rose associated with Welkin was “etched” into it. Some sort of Mist construct had delivered it straight to him, and it caused Dino to gawk like a country bumpkin on his first visit to a large city. “Dino, step back a bit, over to the wall,” he said as he carefully set the box down on a quite short broken column.

Dino skittered away and watched from a distance.

He placed his hands back on the box long enough to send a pulse of flames through it, but got a negative response. Whatever it contained was not harmful. That being the case, he carefully pulled apart the band and twitched minutely when it dissolved. He sent another pulse through and got the same results, so he carefully lifted the lid.

His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. Carefully tucked inside the box was a selection of sweets. Tiramisu, some kind of brownies, and what looked like crème brûlée. Also inside was a folded sheet of stationery, which he plucked out before closing the lid.

> #### Taiyo,
> 
> Kiri tells me I’m a passable cook, so I thought I’d share some with you as a sign of my regard. Let me know what you think?
> 
> #### Sora

He folded the letter and tucked it away, then peeked into the box again. If he wasn’t careful he would start drooling from the scents rising up.

“Reborn?”

‘Ah,’ he thought. ‘A volunteer.’ He gestured at Dino and waited until the blond came over, then plucked a brownie out and offered it.

Dino, being far too trusting still, smiled and promptly had a bite, then moaned. “Oh, God.” He then proceeded to snarf the brownie down in record time and gaze longingly into the box, his fingers twitching toward it.

‘That was mildly disturbing,’ he thought, then closed the box. “Let’s go inside.” Once resettled he placed a square of tiramisu on a plate and pushed it toward Dino, who jumped on it with the enthusiasm of a crazed weasel. Moaning was again involved. Dino had also not dropped dead or complained of agonizing stomach pains.

That being the case he grabbed a brownie and had a bite. It was only through years of training that he himself did not moan. Sora had managed to incorporate coffee into them, in little rivers of gooey delight. ‘Dear Lord,’ he thought as he savored the taste. ‘And Kiri said “passable”? Wait, Japanese. They’re modest to a fault—usually.’

Dino was eyeing the crème brûlée with hungry eyes, so he obligingly handed one over, then moved on to a square of tiramisu for himself. ‘Dear Lord,’ he thought again. ‘I think he’s trying to seduce me with food.’ He was almost afraid to try the last choice, but he would. He was brave.

After a month of short letters going back and forth, Reborn invited him to come help, so Tsuna and Daemon took off, leaving Fon in charge while they were away. Fon and Skull would give part of the game away, and Romeo was simply too new and too young to play single guardian, so Daemon remained his escort. Once they arrived at Cavallone Manor he adopted Reborn’s method of transport and perched on Daemon’s shoulder. Quince was snuggled into his hair.

When they arrived at the courtyard it was to see Dino being run ragged, which made Tsuna feel a pang of sympathy. Reborn lifted his hand in a salute of welcome despite his eyes never leaving his student, so Daemon went to stand next to him.

“Sora. Kiri,” Reborn said quietly.

“Taiyo,” he chirped, and was joined by Quince’s chortle.

Reborn’s gaze snapped over and up.

Tsuna stroked the back of Daemon’s neck and was quickly set on the ground, at which point Quince crawled up to sit atop his head and stare at Reborn. “Meet Quince, my companion. He doesn’t actually like daylight much, but was curious to meet you.”

“Hm. Egyptian fruit bat. Ciaossu, Quince. My companion is Leon.”

The chameleon still liked to perch on Reborn’s hat, so it was to there that Tsuna looked. “You’re a cutie, Leon. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.” He slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a small box, then offered it to Reborn; it was banded with his flames like the previous offering.

Reborn eyed it for a moment and accepted, clearly torn over whether or not to open it straight away.

“You know you want to,” he whispered.

Reborn sighed and broke the seal, causing the band to dissipate, then opened the box. His lips pursed for the briefest of moments. “A passable cook?” he said derisively, then took the brownie and began munching on it.

“Oh, so you liked it,” he said happily.

“Just sweets?”

“No, no. It took me a while to get the hang of Italian cooking, though. It’s so very different.”

“Hm.”

“How’s his aim?” he asked, eyeing Dino as he puffed his way along.

“Not nearly good enough yet, naturally, but he’s improving.”

“Has he been able to draw out his flames?”

Reborn shook his head. For thirty seconds or so there was silence, then Reborn looked at him and said, “I am curious.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve been wondering how he would respond to a relatively unknown Sky trying to get him to manifest flames.”

He nodded. “I can try if you like. Does he have an appropriate ring? I’m afraid I didn’t think to look when last I was here.”

“He does. I’ll have him cool down, and then you can give it a shot.”

“Sure!”

“Testing you?” Quince asked.

“Probably. Or maybe he really is curious. Dino seems awfully skittish and he said he didn’t want to even be heir, so he’s probably resisting in half a dozen directions at once.”

Quince chortled and slid down so he could burrow into Tsuna’s hair to shade himself.

Fifteen minutes later Tsuna was sitting on a stool constructed from his own flames in a shady spot with Dino in front of him. “Got your breath back?” he asked kindly.

Dino nodded, though his expression was a bit fearful. He probably thought Tsuna was as much of a sadist as Reborn could be.

“In some ways it took me a long time to easily manifest my flames.”

“What? But you’re an Arcobaleno. You’re like—special.”

He nodded. “True.” He tapped his temple. “But your head can mess things like that up. When I think of my flames I think of them as my resolve made visible, even tangible, an extension of my power and drive. I _want_ ,” he said, then materialized a kunai in his hand. “I want to be able to protect myself, to pin someone down, even to kill if necessary. It’s _mine_. And just like my hand obeys me, so do my flames. It means I can defend myself and my loved ones. What do yours mean to you?”

“Oh, um…” Dino looked to be at a complete loss, but Tsuna waited patiently. “I guess I never really thought about it. I’ve seen my father do it and he always seemed comfortable creating them. You make it look really easy.”

He giggled. “As with anything else it takes practice and hard work. My first efforts along these lines—” He wiggled the kunai. “—were pretty sloppy and they were rather transparent. It’s simpler to try to spark flames off that ring you’re wearing, like a light. An orange light, but still a light, and useful for when you need to stumble somewhere in the dark.”

Dino laughed softly.

“Try, for your own sake, to spark flames off that ring. They’re yours, they’re a part of you. They’re created from your life force.”

Dino began to freak out.

“Settle down, please, gaki,” he said gently. “I don’t mean it in the sense that you spend life. It’s like having the energy to walk or run or swim. It’s replenished when you eat and rest. It has an odd little relationship with stamina for that reason, which is why most mafiosi who’re flame active are in even better shape than normal.”

“…So that’s why Reborn pushes me so hard?”

He nodded. “Yep. I work out at least three times a week, if not more, and practice my skills. What I want you to try is to make your flames dance on that ring. Here, look,” he said, and released the kunai, then lifted his hand. After he thumbed the ring he concentrated and sparked flames off it.

“Those … aren’t orange.”

“Oh, I’ve been experimenting with something. But you see what I mean? What I want you to try? Good,” he said when Dino nodded. “It’s your power, your will, your resolve. Use it. Show the brilliance inside you. Spark that ring. Keep what I’ve said in mind, and keep trying. Because once you see it happen, you’ll own it. On a different topic, do you have any guardians yet?”

Dino shook his head.

“Not even Romario?”

“Uh…”

“It’s fine, gaki. Only someone who’s harmonized can try to explain this. When you harmonize with someone, it’s … like coming home, but in your heart. It’s like a flower in your chest, and each connection you make is a petal of warmth and affection, even love. You know, beyond question, that you’re never alone. Having that feeling helps, for a number of things.”

Dino looked exceptionally thoughtful at that, spared a moment to glance toward one of the upper levels of the house, and then stared at his ring just as thoughtfully. “Protection, huh?” he muttered. And much faster than Romeo had managed, flames sparked off Dino’s ring, flickering a brilliant orange.

“Well done!” he praised. Of course, they immediately winked out. “Try again,” he said encouragingly. “It’s probably a good goal to try to get your flames visible and keep them for increasing amounts of time, even when holding a conversation or maybe doing some exercise, so you learn to do that subconsciously. And once you can do that you can move on to using them defensively or offensively. Like, say, making a flame whip.”

“Like your weapon?”

He shrugged. “Or coating the whip you have with your flames. I’ve never tried making an actual whip, and I’d probably hurt myself trying to use one, so…”

Dino laughed again.

He shrugged again. “I had to adjust my kunai to fit my hands. I think of them as compressed flames. When I first started working with them I had terrible aim. It was pathetic.” He shook his head sadly. “But I kept trying.”

“And you pinned me to the wall in no time flat,” Dino said sheepishly.

He smiled. “But I earned that. Just like I earned my skill at cooking.”

Dino pinned him with a look of hungry adoration, then focused on his ring again, so Tsuna got up, released his stool, and wandered over to Reborn.

“You are devious, using the truth like that,” Reborn commented.

“Truth is a funny thing,” he said agreeably. “So is perception. Are you enjoying being a tutor?”

“Oddly enough, yes. You ever been one?”

“Just once. A young man a little older than Dino. He didn’t have a clue about flames when I hired him as an agent, but I was pretty sure he was a Lightning, so I coached him into showing it. He’s fairly steady at making shields now and I expect his progress to continue nicely. I mean, he’s out on jobs fairly often, so it’s not like I can run him into the ground, and I have plenty of my own work to do.” He shrugged. “I’m fairly certain paperwork was invented in Yomi.”

Reborn chuckled.

“How exactly do hitmen handle that aspect?” he asked curiously. “I mean, do you give verbal reports or…?” He had no idea. He had spent a lot of time jumping from one Vongola fire to another, which meant repeatedly being charming around other high-up mafiosi while his guardians arrayed themselves and demonstrated that they were bloodthirsty psychos. One would not think that Takeshi could be intimidating, but there was something about that dopey smile of incomprehension combined with narrowed eyes that made any number of people squirm. It said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if you fuck with me, I will make sushi with your flesh.”

“Depends,” Reborn said. “Some people just want proof of the mission. Other people want information mined along the way.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “Does proof mean a report in the news, or more like bringing back a hand for the fingerprints or something?”

Reborn snickered quietly and fired off a warning shot to get Dino moving again.

Tsuna just hoped the kid managed to combine stamina training with flame training. Feeling helpful he called out, “Spark those flames while you run, gaki!”

“You do realize he has no idea what that word means,” Reborn commented.

“Mm. But by the time he does he’ll be used to it as a term of endearment.”

“And it’s even used that way, depending on circumstances.”

“Right. So I have a ready defense if I’m ever called on it,” he said, smiling slightly.

“Do you enjoy being a broker?”

“It’s … interesting,” he said slowly, wincing when Dino tripped over a weed. “People have a wide variety of reasons for needing a broker. In some ways it’s not terribly different from being a private detective firm for normal people. But it gives the smaller, less well-connected famiglie a way to get help—so long as they can pay the fee, of course.”

Reborn gave him a shrewd look. “And smaller famiglie are less likely to try to annex you into their control.”

Tsuna smiled. “Kiri would quickly set that notion straight, but that was originally a factor, you’re quite correct.”

“Kiri is very skilled.”

Tsuna grinned when he heard creepy laughter echo through the courtyard, but frowned when it startled Dino into doing a face plant into the dirt. He sighed and shook his head. “Maybe I could try to teach him about being in harmony with his surroundings?” he muttered. “Not that it would help him with Kiri.”

As if summoned, his Mist popped up nearby and offered juice boxes. Reborn shook his head, but Tsuna accepted with a smile and jammed the straw in place. He took a sip and hummed; it was mixed fruit. “I’m tempted to start calling you Sebastian,” he said.

Daemon smirked and shrank down to chibi size. “I’m not sure I could bring myself to attack with forks and knives, Sora.”

“Ah, so it was you. I’d wondered why my manga collection seemed disturbed.”

“And I go through all your stuff to see if you’re writing little love notes about me in your secret diary.”

Tsuna giggled madly. “You adorably creepy bastard.”

“I vote in favor, by the way. Teaching the young one to be more in harmony with his surroundings isn’t a bad idea. Though—” Daemon eyed Dino’s progress around the courtyard. “—I’m not sure it will do anything for his clumsiness.”

Tsuna sucked up some juice and nodded. “He needs a lot more work with his flames for that, though, so it’s something for another day. And so long as Taiyo does not object.”

Reborn’s lips pursed. “I’ll think about it. But what you said is already having an effect. Look.”

Tsuna’s brow furrowed as he tried to work out what Reborn meant. It hit him after five minutes of observation. “Oh. He’s so busy trying to split his attention that he’s not tripping so often. Huh. I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future. He’s certainly not the only clumsy person out there, and I might end up hiring one along the way. Be kind of embarrassing if they had to defend themselves on a job and only survived because it turned into a Three Stooges routine.”

Reborn and Daemon snickered in unison at the image.

He was brought up short on his next thought to be voiced by a dainty gasp from behind them. ‘Damn it, Daemon, you could have warned me,’ he groused, then blinked when Daemon caused an illusion to form briefly in front of his face. ‘Shit, shit, shit, it’s Bianchi. What the hell is she doing here?’ He returned to watching Dino’s progress and prayed.

“You!” he heard. “You, you—how dare you?”

Tsuna raised a brow at Daemon, who responded with a tiny shrug.

“My little brother should not be obsessed with a dwarf like you!” she shrieked.

He sent a meaningful look at Daemon, who smirked and nodded. A minute later of silence he heard, “Oh! I’m going to be late for my hair appointment!” and the sound of feet running off.

He exhaled slowly. “Right. What was that all about?”

“Apparently it was a mistake to wear your emblem,” Daemon said. “It seems the young lady’s brother has developed something of an obsession with Welkin, and is considering hiring us.”

Tsuna gawked. “What the hell? Scorpioni has … right. Bianchi. She’s thirteen, suspected Storm, poisons things. Her brother is nine, suspected Storm. Nine? And he wants to hire us?”

Daemon nodded.

He rubbed his forehead in confusion. “We’ll worry about it when, since it’s business.”

Daemon nodded again. “I was hoping you’d make Pork Marsala soon,” he said casually.

Tsuna snorted softly. “Consider it done. But I want a full report regarding what just happened.” ‘Such as how the fuck she knew we’d be here.’

“So,” Reborn said, “that happen often?”


	7. 07: 2010

They beat a retreat not long after, with Tsuna apologizing to Reborn for the brevity of the visit. Daemon didn’t say a word in the car until after he had thoroughly checked for bugs and thrown up a barrier of Mist to confuse anything he had not found. Tsuna’s pulse of flames had not encountered anything that would count as disharmonious, but the extra precaution was just as well.

“It was coincidence more than anything, Tsuna,” Daemon said. “She was actually there to see Reborn. She’s heard a lot about him and wanted to meet him. But then she saw the emblem on the back of your hoodie and switched focus.”

“So she decided I must be a dwarf?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Well, you obviously can’t be like Reborn. He’s a legend.”

Tsuna rolled his eyes. “Okay, and Hayato? What the fuck?”

“Tsuna, my love, you turn me on with such dirty language,” Daemon replied silkily, then continued, “He knows there’s something wrong. I arranged, back when, to ensure the household staff did not gossip about his mother—his real mother—but he suspects something. As he’s still at home and has no pressing need to spend his allowance, he has money. He’s heard about Welkin and wants to hire us.”

“I always knew he was smart,” he muttered. “From what I remember of all that shit in the future, Bianchi was able to prove that Lavinia was very much in love with Hayato’s father, but she was ill, and that’s why she never married him. They think the crash was caused by her illness, because it wasn’t suicide and it wasn’t a hit.”

Daemon glanced over for a second.

“No, I’m not upset that you meddled. You made a tiny change and so far it’s kept him safe and off the streets.”

“The trade-off is that his sister still gets to poison him.”

Tsuna growled. “How can she claim to love her brother when she keeps poisoning him so he’ll play all wonky? I don’t give a damn that it’s her father telling her to do it. And he can’t love him, either, not with those instructions. Who allows the systematic poisoning of one of their heirs?”

“I can always adjust the man.”

Tsuna shook his head. “No. Or at least, not right now. If Hayato comes to us we can see if he’ll open up properly. Even so, his father has custody, even if he chooses to run away. We can’t very well kidnap the kid. I wonder if the man even bothered to send people to look for him when he ran last time. Shamal may have reassured the father, I guess, but since everyone thought he was just a kid only good for playing the piano…”

He snarled silently, then blinked. “Did you call me ‘my love’?”

“You only now caught that?” Daemon said with a laugh. “Get some rest. You know how long a drive it is, even with me speeding like a madman.”

He went to bed properly once they got home and the next morning went shopping so he would be able to cook what Daemon was craving. Romeo played bodyguard and burden carrier. At the house once again Romeo skipped off to do some surveillance and Fon filled him in on what happened while he and Daemon were away. “Okay. Pork Marsala for dinner.”

Fon nodded. “I’ll be home in time, then.”

“Okay.” He gave Fon an impromptu hug and headed to his office. There he sent off a text to ask Skull if he would be joining them for dinner, then refreshed his memory on the paperwork that infested his desk. He also dashed off a letter to Dino as both a written apology for having to leave so quickly, and to remind him of a few things. He banded the envelope with a ribbon of flames instead of a more customary seal and set it aside for a construct to deliver.

Life continued on more or less normally for the next few weeks, with the addition of letters from Dino to those from Reborn. One of those letters was an invitation from Reborn, and permission to try to teach Dino to harmonize with his surroundings. Tsuna opted to ask Romeo to come along, too.

“Sure I’ll come,” his Lightning said easily. “But why?”

“I’ll be teaching Reborn’s student something that may or may not be complicated—or trying to, anyway—and I’d feel a lot better with an extra guardian watching my back. But it begs the question of which name you’d be using. If I introduced you as Kaminari, that’s a dead giveaway that you’re a guardian. But you might not be comfortable using your real name. What is your opinion?”

“Uh… I know you’re walking a fine line on this. So for this I’m Romeo, one of your agents at Welkin.”

He nodded. “I’ve mentioned you in passing when the question of whether I’d done tutoring before came up. Okay. I don’t expect to be there for any longer than the previous times, but pack an extra set of clothes just in case. Also, Reborn is very intelligent and can spot a lie like you wouldn’t believe. So don’t lie to him if he asks you any questions, but don’t necessarily tell the whole truth, either.”

He brought a box of sweets with him, both to be kind and to be a tease. The second Reborn saw it he called for a break. Dino coiled up his whip and trotted over, then stared hungrily. Tsuna beamed a smile and twinkled his fingers at the blond, who staggered back under the assault. Romario, also present, did not fare much better.

Tsuna could see in his peripheral vision that Romeo went absolutely still, so he just knew his Lightning was desperately trying not to laugh. Reborn sauntered over oh so casually and gestured toward a table that had appeared since the previous visit, so Tsuna nodded and set the box down. He looked at Reborn and tapped the lid. “You have to share, you know.”

“Right,” Reborn said. “May I?”

“Sure!”

Reborn had the box open a split second later and was eyeing the contents with badly disguised hunger. “I think we should have a snack,” he pronounced solemnly, then reached under the table to pull open a drawer with plates and napkins and cutlery. The only person Reborn catered to was Tsuna, serving up one of each sweet on a plate and laying it down at one of the seats.

“Thank you,” he said warmly and took the seat, but he waited for the others to have their own plates and be seated before he introduced Romeo.

“Lightning?” Reborn asked him, then promptly started eating.

Romeo nodded. “Sora helped me to access my flames.”

“Really?” Dino said after swallowing hastily. “He helped me, too.”

“It’s pretty cool, right?” Romeo said. “It didn’t take too terribly long before I could make a shield with mine. You’d think foam projectiles wouldn’t be much of a threat to defend against, but they still sting if thrown hard enough.”

Tsuna smiled to himself and finished devouring his thin wedge of cassata cake and moved on to the next delight, a thin wedge of cheesecake. He had avoided coffee-based desserts this go around, and decided on cakes instead. A sidelong look showed that Reborn was enjoying the hell out of them anyway. A look across the table showed that Romario was sitting awfully close to Dino, which made him wonder if his calculated comment had prompted some harmony.

To that end he leaned sideways and whispered, “Did those two…?”

Reborn paused mid-chew and nodded.

“Wow,” he breathed and sat straight again. Once everyone was done and he got the okay from Reborn, Tsuna drew Dino away to sit under a tree with him, facing each other. “First, congratulations.”

Dino broke out into a warm smile. “You’re right, it’s like a flower. And thanks.”

He nodded. “I wanted to try to teach you something today, one Sky to another. I have no idea if it’s a personal quirk of mine or if any Sky can learn it. So we’ll see. If you’re willing, that is.”

“Uh… Okay.”

He blinked in surprise at Dino’s willingness, but nodded. “I call it being in harmony with your surroundings. It’s an awareness. Knowing your surroundings. You can actually use your flames to determine things that way.”

“Huh?”

“As an example, I use my flames on food and drink that I didn’t make myself. I look for disharmony. If I find any, that means there’s something wrong with it. I learned how to do it by accident. But it applies to your surroundings, too. Take this courtyard. You’ve been all over it your whole life, yes? You should know, even if not consciously, exactly what’s here. And when you sense something out of place, out of harmony…”

Dino seemed to catch on at that point. “Like someone hiding, or…”

“Exactly. So, an exercise for you to practice when you have the odd minute.” He raised his hand to bring the Sky ring he had put on into view. “I’m going to do something I call pulsing. You’ve sparked flames off your ring, but you can also create a pulse off it. Imagine a circle or even a sphere. Watch.” He waited until Dino’s eyes were firmly on the ring and then pulsed his flames out from it as a circle, then again as a sphere.

“You learned it by accident?”

“Yes. It was when I was learning how to cook,” he said, speaking a half truth. “I don’t even remember what made my flames pulse like that, but when it happened, I got back an odd feeling from the food I’d just made. Turned out I had accidentally put the wrong spice into it, which threw off the harmony. So, this is something you can practice whenever you get a minute, and use for various things.”

Dino nodded and focused on his own ring. Tsuna waited patiently, keeping an ear open for what was going on with the others, and taking note of the fact that Romario was hovering nearby. He spent the next space of time mostly enjoying the day, though he was running options in his mind regarding meal planning for the next week. He attention was claimed when Dino managed to send out a small flat pulse of flame. “Very good,” he praised.

“Cool. I didn’t learn anything from it, but… That was pretty small. I’ll work on it.”

Tsuna reached over to pat Dino’s arm. “Okay. And remember, once you have the pulse thing down, try it against things or places. Maybe enlist the kitchen staff for an experiment. If it works for you the way it does for me, it’s a super useful skill.” He got up and rejoined the others, paying only passing attention to Romario swooping in closer to Dino.

“Taiyo!” he chirped. “Why are you staring at Romeo like you wish to dissect him?”

“He has admitted to having dinner cooked by you on numerous occasions,” Reborn replied grouchily.

“I enjoy cooking,” he said simply. “I hope that at some point you will be able to partake.”

“You said you have your own reasons to be bitter.”

Tsuna eyed Reborn; those liquid black eyes gave nothing away. “My mother was murdered by members of an unsavory famiglia. We were alone, because my father thought that staying away would be all the protection we’d need. I was on a trip with a friend when it happened.” He looked away. “My mother taught me how to cook. I cook now in her memory.”

“And the curse?”

He looked back, his brow furrowed. “It did not make me bitter, if that’s what you mean. It saved my life, in a way.” Then he smiled. “And I’ve made some interesting friends. How is it that you’re so good with a gun? Are you using some application of your flames to enhance your performance? I mean,” he said, plowing on rather than letting Reborn speak, “is it even possible to do something with your eyes to perhaps increase visual acuity and range of vision?”

Reborn smirked at him after a moment. “Interesting. Most people are too dazzled to dare ask questions like that.”

An illusion flashed for a second behind Reborn’s head, letting him know that Bianchi was in the vicinity. It was replaced with a short message detailing a plan. “They’d be better off asking, because you might be able to help them improve. Assuming they’re intelligent enough to read between the lines or extrapolate from what you do say,” he retorted.

Not long after that she showed up, spotted him, and charged. After angling his eyes sidelong to blatantly ensure Reborn knew he was aware, he kept watch on the illusion Daemon was creating for him, like the feed from a CCTV camera. Bianchi had a cake in her hand and was gunning for him.

Right as she threw Romeo stepped in and slammed a barrier up in front of Tsuna and, incidentally, Reborn. “What the hell are you doing, miss? Is it normal for you to be actively suicidal?” Romeo asked as Tsuna smoothly turned to watch directly. Cake was sliding down the barrier to adulterate the ground.

“The stupid little dwarf needs to die,” she hissed as the barrier vanished.

Tsuna quirked a brow at Daemon, then beamed a smile at the girl and twinkled his fingers at her.

Unlike most people she did not stagger or trip or otherwise make a fool of herself; her eyes went wide and a blush tinted her cheeks. “Oh. You’re—”

“Ciao!” he chirped, then adopted a sad and uncertain look. “Did—did you attack me? Was I bad?”

“I—no? I mean—um—I need to go,” she stumbled through, then whipped around and fled.

Tsuna snorted softly. “Thank you, Romeo. Your intervention was both timely and effective.”

Romeo smiled lazily. “No problem, boss man.”

“She’s already tried to kill Dino,” Reborn commented, smirking faintly.

“She’s become obsessed with you?”

Reborn nodded. “She’s a very pretty girl, obviously skilled, but I have to say I’d rather not be accused of pedophilia.”

Tsuna giggled madly and nodded. He wondered anew if that “relationship” had been a way to keep her somewhat under control and her obsession aimed in a direction where it would do the least harm. “I think she’ll grow up to be a real beauty. She should still set her sights on someone closer to her own age, I agree. Crime is our business, but she’s taking it too far.”

“Is she gone?” Dino whispered from behind a tree.

Tsuna bounded over and grinned. “Yep. But that reinforces what I said earlier, now that I think about it. If she’s already tried to kill you, well… Check your food, yeah?”

Dino nodded fervently. “Incentive to learn that.” He paused, then said, “Um, what did you mean about the kitchen staff?”

Tsuna blinked. “Once you can pulse reliably, ask the kitchen staff to make, uh, three of the same dish, but one of them needs to be wrong in some way. Then you can send pulses through them to learn how to find the problem.”

“Oh, oh,” Dino said. “Okay. Yeah, I see what you mean now.” He nodded, as if to himself, then got a bit of a shifty cast to his expression. “Um, can I talk to you about something? Privately?”

Tsuna blinked again, then nodded. Dino picked him up and headed to the far side of the courtyard. Tsuna didn’t have the heart to tell him that Daemon would be spying and Reborn probably had insects listening in. He simply looked curiously at the blond.

“Are—are you—” Dino bit his lip, then blurted out quietly, “Are you going to take Reborn away from me?”

His jaw dropped and his breath came out in a whoosh. “You mean harmonize with him.”

“Yeah. If you did, he’d leave, right?”

Tsuna shook his head. “Okay. I do believe that Reborn and I could be a good fit, and I’m hoping we are, that we harmonize. But I knew he was contracted to a long-term job, that being you, training you. If I asked him to go back on his word, I wouldn’t be worthy of him. It would be selfish and hubristic. Even if we harmonized two seconds from now, he would still be here for you, until you’re ready to stand on your own. Well, with the support of your guardians, because I know you’ll find them.” He reached up to gently pat the side of Dino’s face. “Okay?”

Dino looked at him searchingly, then nodded, though he still looked worried. “Okay.”

‘Time will prove,’ he thought. “Did you like the cakes?”

A smile blossomed. Dino carried him back over to the others and set him down gently, then was barked at by Reborn to start working on his aim again. Tsuna had known from the past that Dino was fond of Reborn, despite being somewhat afraid of him—or rather, his inclination toward blowing his students up—but he’d had no idea of the depth of affection. It was sweet.

In truth, though, he had very little else he wanted to teach Dino, if anything. The two most important things he had already imparted. He wanted to keep visiting to learn about Reborn from a new perspective, though even he could see, from his few visits, that Reborn’s relationship with Dino, while in some ways very similar to the one he’d had, was very different. Dino wasn’t broken. A little slow on the uptake at times, but not broken.

He shook his head and sidled over to Romario, intent on getting to know the man better. He was as much of a cipher as before. Aside from knowing the man had a good sense of humor, he knew very little except that he must be a good man if Dino had harmonized with him.

The next time he arrived for a visit his eyes were drawn straight to Leon. He blinked a few times on seeing Leon cocooned on Reborn’s hat, then deliberately set it aside in his head. The usual box of sweets was offered, though in a preoccupied manner. Reborn had Romario hustle the box off to his suite—and he would know if anyone did any sampling because of the ribbon—before returning, as they had arranged to go have dinner as a group.

Tsuna and Daemon were both dressed in smart suits, though his pacifier was hidden by illusion and Daemon looked to be about five years old for some reason he did not bother to inquire about. Dinner itself was delicious and he made certain to catch Dino’s attention prior to sending out a pulse of flames to check for problems before tucking in.

It was on the way to the car that it happened. Tsuna was expecting something; Leon would not have gone wonky otherwise. At least two dozen men blocked the access lane to the parking garage.

“Now we got you,” one of them said smugly. “Your daddy ain’t here to protect you.”

Dino started trembling, but jerked when Reborn kicked him in the calf.

Tsuna mostly tuned out the posturing being thrown around and leaned in to whisper with Daemon. “Plan?”

Daemon skipped over the obvious and whispered back, “Hey, we’re just little children. They’re either going to ignore us or use us to bait Dino into acting. If they do, let’s play along for the moment.”

“And unleash a whirlwind of death if necessary,” he whispered, nodding.

Daemon smirked. “I’ll inform Reborn.”

A few seconds later Reborn nodded in their direction, so Daemon had obviously flashed up an illusion for him. Tsuna plastered a frightened look on his face and clung to Daemon. Reborn would never be mistaken for an actual child, not with his pacifier out on display, not if those men had any standing whatsoever in the mafia world. They would have to be ignorant, uninformed, half-witted noobs to not recognize the Sun Arcobaleno and tutor of their target.

Reborn, of course, was looking supremely bored by the whole thing, but Tsuna knew he was waiting for the right moment to say something guaranteed to get Dino fired up and allow Leon to gift the young man with what he was incubating. A slight shudder wracked his frame. It still creeped him out that Enzo was essentially Leon’s child, but it also showed the depth of the bond between them, or at least Leon’s regard for the human.

Sure enough, when the aggressors decided they were not getting the reaction they wished for, a quartet zipped over to Tsuna and Daemon and took them hostage. Dino, predictably, freaked out, and was given another sharp kick from Reborn. Sadly, they were too far away from Dino, Reborn, and Romario to hear exactly what Reborn said, and the general unruliness from the mob was creating rather a lot of noise pollution.

Tsuna decided to help things along by bursting into tears and wailing. Daemon followed suit and they clutched each other desperately. Dino’s head snapped around their way and his eyes went all flinty. He said something that was lost to Tsuna, and at that moment Leon blimped up and exploded, raining ragged bits of whatever it was companions were made of all over the area. A whip and Enzo bashed into Dino’s head, driving him to his knees.

Dino got back up, tucked the turtle into his pocket without overt thought, and cracked his new whip. A head went flying. Tsuna’s tears cut off abruptly as kunai came to his hands. Two of his captors went down in the next second, their guts spilling out onto the pavement for having dared manhandle him. Then he dashed toward the main mass and started disabling everyone within reach. Some of them had to be alive, after all, to be questioned.

He was startled at one point when one of them went down to a bullet and risked a quick look over his shoulder. Reborn was there, eyes an endless cold sea of black. His heart lurched as a connection formed, but he pushed it aside for the time being.

It was only after their attackers were dead or down did he mutter, “For the love of cannoli, what the fuck is wrong with my life that…”

Daemon laughed creepily.

Romario got his phone out and made a call asking for men to come sanitize the area and get the prisoners squirreled away.

Daemon waved his hands around in an obvious show, causing transparent barriers to go up around the area, then set about binding the still living ones with illusionary ropes.

Reborn strode over with a slight spring in his step and stopped at Tsuna’s side. “We’ll have to talk soon.”

“Hai. As you can see, Kiri is keeping the police away. Perhaps after the young master is safely at home we could…”

“There are places at the manor we can secure,” Reborn said, “or we can rent a hotel suite.”

“I don’t want those sweets to go off, so…”

Reborn nodded. “My suite will be fine, and the extra security won’t hurt.”

Cavallone forces arrived fifteen minutes later with several vehicles and began loading bodies. A few Storms took care of disintegrating any evidence. Their group continued on to the garage and reclaimed their car, and Romario drove them back to the manor. Dino was exhausted by everything and was quickly hustled away, so Reborn, Tsuna, and Daemon repaired to Reborn’s suite.

Daemon immediately swept the place for non-living bugs and emplaced some barriers, then grabbed a book and sat down to read.

Tsuna giggled quietly and took the seat Reborn gestured to. “Why did you shoot? Your life wasn’t directly in danger.”

Reborn pinned him with a look, then opened the box and peered inside. A sigh escaped his lips. “One of them was aiming for your head. I’m fairly certain you would have been fine, but I was unable to stop myself from protecting you. It was like my hand moved on its own.” He turned away and fetched supplies from a sideboard, then portioned out the sweets.

Daemon’s plate was picked up and ferried to him by a construct, but he otherwise stayed out of things.

“Taiyo,” he said slowly. “Reborn. I have secrets that I will share, but I need to know that—”

“Yes, of course,” Reborn interrupted. “My honor would allow nothing less. I refuse to betray my Sky.”

He smiled and nodded. “My name is Tsunayoshi Sawada and I’ll be ten years old in October.”

Reborn fell into his chair and stared at him. “You’re the missing Vongola child.”

He nodded again. “Things changed when I was made Sky Arcobaleno.”

“Obviously,” Reborn drawled. “Estraneo…”

His jaw tightened for a moment, but he nodded. “Yes. Kiri’s real name is Daemon.”

That garnered a sharp look toward his Mist, who was pretending to be oblivious. “Daemon Spade.”

“Uh, yes,” he confirmed. “You obviously know your history. Anyway, I was away on a trip—at Mafia Land, actually—when it happened. Oh!” He turned toward Daemon, who immediately sent a net over. Tsuna slid it across the table to Reborn, then got out his own and secured it over his pacifier. “I’m not even going to ask why you had that ready.”

“Anything for you, my darling,” Daemon said sunnily, then went back to his book.

Tsuna rolled his eyes. “Right. That net will mask your pacifier, should you, for some reason, wish to sneak up on another Arcobaleno. Like I did when I visited Mafia Land. Except that I didn’t sneak up on Colonnello, I just wanted to avoid a confrontation. Anyway, my identity is my biggest secret.”

Reborn nodded and inspected the net before tucking it away. He ate a piece of biscotti before saying, “Romeo is your Lightning Guardian.”

“Hai.”

“Why not Verde?”

He frowned. “I tried to open a line of communication with Verde by offering to fund his research. He sent assassins after me in response, unknowing that I was a fellow Arcobaleno. I killed them, and Daemon sent the pieces back in a box. As he had no idea he was going against the code, I let the matter drop at that point. He knows that his optical camouflage suits failed for some reason, and may or may not know that the tracking method he used was discovered. I assume he does considering that one of the assassins was carrying a device similar to a Geiger counter and it was not returned with the bodies.”

Reborn eyed him thoughtfully. “I’m not the first. I recognized some of those moves. You have Fon, at least.”

He nodded. “Fon was third,” he said, then giggled. “I went for the little guy first.”

Reborn stared, then groaned and lifted a hand to his forehead. “Skull? Skull was first?”

“Yep. Probably just as well, because I made a lot of mistakes at first and he caught on really fast. He’s quite smart, has a good mind for strategy. But we also had the whole common ground of not being mafia until we had to be. I was only five, so he was … gentle … with me. Taught me a lot of things. We harmonized the same night my mother died. Daemon a couple of days later because he was so busy making arrangements and getting us out of Japan. I harmonized with Fon right after I killed those assassins from Verde.”

“So that’s why…” Reborn nodded and consumed another piece of biscotti. “So it’s just Rain,” he muttered.

“You two are funny together.”

Reborn’s brow went up.

“I was watching the meeting at the Pacifier Spring,” he admitted with a laugh. “You and Colonnello argue a lot. I’ve been concerned about possibly contacting him, because of Lal Mirch.”

Reborn nodded and said, “And she’s CEDEF, and therefore too close to Iemitsu.”

“Yeah. But he’s also military, and would understand keeping quiet.”

“You don’t need to spell it out. You must loathe your father, quite possibly Vongola in general.”

“My father, certainly. It was ironic that his first visit in years coincided with Estraneo’s actions, and he was too late. She was tortured before they killed her, and she didn’t even know where I was. Skull and I were at Mafia Land, rating the attractions. We were on the Ferris Wheel when I felt— _so wrong_.”

Reborn’s eyes widened. “You have the Vongola Hyper Intuition. Amazing. Well, I can’t argue that,” he said with a shake of his head.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Your … choice of how to proceed. Gaining guardians. I would still prefer to have been first, but…”

He giggled. “I told you, Taiyo, you’re intimidating. I couldn’t come to you first. You’d have run roughshod over me.”

Reborn flapped his hand in agreement, then pulled out his phone and looked at him expectantly. Once Tsuna’s number was in his contacts list he said, “I’ll see about arranging a weekend off, or even a week. I’m sure the ninth will agree to it on the basis of harmonization. Where are you based?”

“Gesso territory, in Portici. We were in a loaned house, but my investments got to the point where I could easily spend the money to buy a house of my own, get it fixed up.” He imparted the address and waited for Reborn to make a firm nod. “And of course, when you’re able to visit, you will have to let me know what you’d want for dinner that first night.”

Reborn hummed happily. “How much do you know?”

“About you? Your original name, for one. Your, uh, facility with insects and certain small creatures. And of course your reputation and skill. And I eventually asked Skull about what led up to him becoming an Arcobaleno, so I have the bare facts for that. Pretty sure Fon was eavesdropping at the time.”

“He was,” Daemon said.

“And you? How did that come about?”

He exhaled slowly. “I woke up like this on my fifth birthday. Strange house, like a memorial. A room for each flame, with pictures, and plenty of information about history and flames. I have no idea if the place is even there any longer. It was shortly after that when Daemon showed up.”

Reborn nodded, then shook his head. “Tell me to stuff it if this is—your mother didn’t notice?”

He chuckled. “Uh, my mother was oblivious to a lot of things and very easy to fool. But when I was changed and came to understand, I made it a point to spend a lot of time with her. She actually taught me a lot of things, some of which I’ve ended up using in Welkin, like budgeting. I think part of why I managed as well as I did with my flames was I had every excuse to use them. Skull offered straight away to let me live on his airship, but my friend from Gesso came through with a house. So Skull is free to drift when he needs it, but always has a home with us.”

“And no one has a clue aside from your guardians who you are.”

“Right. And my Gesso friend. But that’s it. I’m almost never seen openly, so people don’t realize who Welkin is. Everything goes through various drops. I only showed up here because of you. Even Fon was contacted through drops after I freaked him out. And speaking of that, that’s another issue with Colonnello. Aside from him potentially mentioning to Lal about being spied on, he seems to be very happy at Mafia Land. I’ve been conflicted because what we do doesn’t seem like his kind of thing.”

“Okay, hold up. Being spied on. Was that you, that seriously creepy and irritating sensation I felt once?”

He nodded. “It’ll feel different now, should I do it.”

“Do it.”

His brow slid up.

“Please.”

He reached up to hold his pacifier and concentrated on Reborn, but kept his eyes open. Reborn suddenly shivered as though he had been dipped into warm water on a chilly day, so he let go. After blinking a few times to correct the double vision, he tilted his head at his Sun curiously.

“That … was super cool. And you did this to Fon and Skull, too. And Verde? Mammon?”

“Skull, yes, and he ended up buying a throwaway phone and writing up a message for me to see with the number on it. Considering at that point I was alone and had no idea how to do anything but peek, that worked out. Fon tested it in several ways, but rather than make him a paranoid wreck I started using Daemon’s constructs and drops. Verde, no. I didn’t want to accidentally throw him off during an experiment and blow him sky high. I didn’t bother with Viper. He probably would have tried to charge me for it somehow, anyway.”

Reborn snickered. “I would be happy to host you tonight, so you two aren’t driving back on no sleep or having to find a hotel.”

He smiled warmly. “That would be nice. I’ll just—”

“No need,” Daemon said. “I already sent text messages letting them know we’d be delayed.”

“Oh. Thank you, Daemon.”

Reborn decided to order some refreshments from the kitchens, so Tsuna was shortly enjoying a cup of hot chocolate.

“Yes, I really am _that_ Daemon Spade.”

“Oh, good,” Tsuna said. “I’m not the only one he does it to.”

Reborn scowled and had a sip of his espresso. “How is that possible?”

“I was driven insane when the woman I loved died, back when I was Mist Guardian to Vongola Primo. I forced him to step down through various machinations, and then became Mist Guardian for Secondo, his cousin. After that I discarded my body and took to possessing others, always keeping an eye on Vongola. It was not until I came upon Tsuna that something fixed itself in my head. He is so very much like Elena, and all she ever wanted was for Vongola to be strong, to protect those who could not protect themselves.

“When Vongola went after Estraneo I was there, watching, while Tsuna was safe with Skull. One of the children being experimented on was a perfect match for me, a young Mist whose soul had been driven out. So I fooled Vongola forces and stole the body, and claimed it for my own. I was then back to my full power and capable of harmonizing with Tsuna, which I did. I found it intriguing, as well, that Tsuna gained the mind of an adult when he was changed into the Sky Arcobaleno. I had very little experience with them prior to that.”

Reborn sipped more espresso before saying, “So how old is your body?”

“A few months older than Tsuna would be, so ten. Oddly, the boy looked almost exactly like I did at that age. I considered it providence, finding him. Tsu-kun, would you get upset with me should I decide to mimic Viper and go give him a fright?”

He stared blankly at his Mist for a few moments, then started giggling. “Please don’t. If I were mean I’d say mimic Xanxus, but that might send the Varia off the deep end, and they’re already pretty cracked.”

Daemon pouted. “Fine.” Then his expression went blank.

Tsuna sighed. “Kami-sama. What happened?”

“One of my spies just dispelled, one on that man.”

He swallowed unhappily. “She’s pregnant again?”

Daemon nodded. “I suspected that might be the case, but it was just confirmed.”

“Okay.” He drank deeply from his cup and sat back. “Half-sibling number two on the way. I hope to hell one of them turns out to be a Sky.” He caught the expression forming on Reborn’s face and added, “As a just in case. One of Nono’s sons has already been killed. There are plenty of people out there who’d like to see Vongola fall, so…”

“What are you going to do if the others are killed?”

“Xanxus is presently frozen, so—”

“Frozen? I know he attempted a coup d’état.”

“Yes. Vongola has a technique, called Zero Point Breakthrough. It can be used to freeze flames, or an entire person, like putting them in a form of stasis. From what Daemon could see, Xanxus was frozen rather than killed. Either way, it’s highly unlikely Nono would hand over the reins to him if it came to it. If Massimo dies, I’m going to start getting nervy. And if Federico dies, well…”

“Then we have a council,” Daemon said. “Personally, I’d wring a number of concessions out of them for the honor of having Tsuna be Decimo, even temporarily.”

He shrugged. “I’ll worry about it when. You still have spies there?”

Daemon shook his head. “I’ll have to create another one. But since we’re this far north, it won’t take long to get it in place.”

A yawn overtook him and he dropped his head as he covered his mouth.

Reborn slipped off his chair and disappeared into the bedroom. Daemon got up and opened the door to the hallway long enough to accept their overnight bag from a construct, which promptly disappeared, and closed up again.

Reborn came back and rather pushily hustled Tsuna off into the bedroom and pointed at the door leading the facilities. Daemon followed him in long enough to set the bag down, then exited. Tsuna covered another yawn, then got ready for bed and wandered back out. Reborn hustled him over to the bed and stared until he climbed in. “Um…”

“I can make additional, temporary beds,” Daemon pointed out.

“Or we can just share. It’s a huge bed and it’s not like any of us are large,” he retorted.

“Oh, love, I’ll snuggle with you any day, but perhaps Reborn is not accustomed to having people in his bed with him?”

He blushed. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Reborn said. “Just sit tight and we can all go to sleep.”

Ten minutes later all three of them were in the bed, Tsuna in the middle.

They were half way through breakfast the following morning when a knock came at the door. Daemon eyed Reborn, then went to answer it. Dino was there looking confused.

“Come in,” Reborn said, and pointed at a free seat.

“I’m confused,” Dino said as he sat down.

“Yes, that was evident in your expression,” Reborn said blandly.

Dino scowled.

“Reborn and I harmonized during the altercation yesterday,” Tsuna said. “He offered to put us up for the night because of it.”

“Oh,” Dino said with a nod. “Oh! Really?”

“That is what he just said,” Reborn replied. “Not to worry, pipsqueak, I’m still your tutor. I will be requesting the occasional bit of time off, though. I’m sure you understand. And if not, I’ll make sure you do.”

Dino shook his head frantically. “No, no, I do. When Romario and I harmonized… Yeah.”

“Good. I’d hate to have to blow you up over such a simple thing. On the other hand, it would mean Romario would get additional experience in healing.”

“Reborn!” Dino whined.

When Reborn arrived (let in by a construct) Tsuna was dancing down the hallway, wearing a pair of headphones, and singing. He was tone-deaf, unfortunately. Just seeing his Sky was a weight off his shoulders. He had not thought being apart would be so hard. It was bizarre enough that he had acted unthinkingly that night and surrendered to his hopes and desires, and harmonized. Seeing Tsuna again made him want to smile.

Tsuna caught sight of him and stopped dead, and blushed as he slipped the headphones back down to his neck. He laughed nervously. “Oh, uh, ciao.”

“Ciaossu.”

Tsuna hastened over and snatched the bag out of his hand, then ushered him down the hallway. The next thing he knew he was up a flight of stairs and into a suite of rooms done up primarily in pale yellow. “I hope you like it,” Tsuna said quickly, “but I can have it redone if you don’t. Whatever you want. It’s no trouble.”

He took the bag back and set it down next to a sofa. “It’s fine,” he assured his Sky. “Do you normally dance down the hallways?”

Tsuna blushed again. “Come on! I’ll show you around.”

He was taken on a whirlwind tour, admired the training rooms, Tsuna’s office, and gratefully sank onto a stool in the kitchen and accepted some coffee. He had barely taken a sip when a white-haired young man breezed in and snatched Tsuna up long enough for a hug, then took a seat.

“Only one more to go!”

“And are you going to introduce yourself, or…?”

“Right.” The stranger turned to him and grinned. “Byakuran, heir to the Gesso Famiglia. Wonderful to meet you.”

“Reborn,” he said with a nod. Tsuna had interesting friends, it seemed.

“Are you planning to stay for dinner?” Tsuna asked.

“I will always stay for dinner when invited. You know how much I adore your cooking,” Byakuran said grandiosely.

Tsuna nodded and poured two cups of tea, then served one to the Gesso heir. “That reminds me,” he said, “one moment,” and got out his phone to fiddle with it, then tucked it away. “So, any news of interest?”

“Well… I heard that the Carcassa Famiglia did something stupid and lost a dozen men. Something about a dodgy shipment of arms. But they’re idiots, so… And the Todd Famiglia got into a fight with Pesca. They lost a dozen or so each.”

Fon glided in and took a seat. “Reborn.”

“Fon.” He felt a bit odd. He had always respected Fon, but being a fellow guardian, to the same Sky—it was just odd, somehow. He was a tiny bit jealous, actually, that Fon lived in the manor, while he had several years yet, most likely, before he could take his place full time. However, now that he had his heart’s desire—or one of them, anyway—he would not fuck it up with misplaced emotion. All he had to do was concentrate on that warmth in his chest, the warmth that helped to thaw the cold from years of loneliness he had never admitted to. “It’s good to see you again.”

His fellow Arcobaleno smiled serenely. “Perhaps while you’re here we can fit in a spar.”

“Yes, Dolce, I can make one for this evening,” he heard Tsuna say indulgently.

“That would be interesting,” he allowed. He was well versed in martial arts; he just preferred using a gun. “Tsuna showed me the training rooms.”

“We have plenty of spare outfits for that,” Fon informed him.

His attention was caught by Byakuran racing off, and he looked to Tsuna curiously.

“He’s gone to purchase a few things. He wanted a chocolate marshmallow pie for this evening and I don’t have what I’d need. He’s obsessed with marshmallows. I don’t understand how he still has his own teeth, to be honest.” Tsuna shook his head and took the cups away to be rinsed in the sink.

He nodded. “Approximately how many jobs do you get a month?”

His Sky managed to spend ten minutes explaining the answer to that, and it told him that should he choose to, he could easily have plenty to keep him occupied down the line. Perhaps he could do both?

“I assume,” Tsuna continued, “that you’ve got some trusted contacts scattered around, or at least one, who line up hits for you to take care of? Or were you looking to mix things up?”

“I’m not sure. Any hitman worth his pay knows how to surveil, because sometimes you’re lucky to get a general direction in addition to the name. I may not presently be taking jobs, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t kept my hand in on the other parts. I always keep up with the latest when it comes to things like hacking, for example. But neither can I see myself taking on any of the longer jobs. Spending a month in deep cover to track down a target for elimination just doesn’t appeal.”

Tsuna smiled softly and nodded. “Yeah. I’d be a bundle of nerves if I took on a job that required that kind of distance. The smaller ones were no big deal, but there were also fewer of us at the start. And now I have plenty of evil paperwork to keep me occupied.”

“When you’re not spoiling us rotten with your cooking,” Fon said quietly.

Tsuna grinned and glanced at the clock. “Well, we have time before I need to start anything, so how about we go get in some practice?”

Fon nodded.

They were shortly in one of the training rooms and his Sky and Fon were warming up with some tai chi. He tucked himself into a corner to watch this first time. It made his heart glad that his Sky took his skills seriously. Tsuna had already proven he could defend himself, and that he was not afraid to do what needed to be done. He could kill, if need be. The last thing anyone needed was a bleeding heart Sky who forgave everyone because their compassion overcame their sense.

‘I still have trouble with his age,’ he thought, watching as the two flowed around the room. ‘Checker Face is a bastard of the highest order to do that to a mere child. Tsuna barely even had a childhood. There have been those who’ve been raised almost from the start to be mafioso and taught to kill, but this… And now he’s stuck in limbo with the rest of us, cursed in the blink of an eye.’

He sighed almost invisibly and crossed one leg over the other. He drank in the sight of his Sky and cursed Iemitsu even as he thanked him for his ineptitude. As unlikely as it was, should it come to the point where Tsuna would need to take up the burden of Vongola, he would be his sadistic best in order to ensure his Sky would not be taken advantage of.

Reborn stilled for a moment as someone slid into place next to him, then sighed and said, “Ciaossu, Skull.”

“Hey. Glad to see you made it.”

“Thank you,” he said a bit stiffly. It was … hard … to see Skull as anything other than a lackey, but he had to make an effort to refocus his view. “What was he like, at first?” he asked, looking at his fellow.

Skull narrowed his eyes before saying, “A curious mixture of child and adult. A bit loose-lipped in what he said, but that cleared up right quick once he realized what he was doing. He’s bright, and he had counsel in Daemon and Byakuran, too, to help him. We, erm, played, at first. I made a game of things, learning stealth, things like that. But he quickly grew up, I guess. Then again, I can still see the child in him come out on occasion.”

“How long did you know him for before the incident?”

Skull’s face scrunched up in thought. “He started peeking in on me mid-October of, um… 2005. I took a chance and wrote out a message, but as I later learned he could not directly respond. So the next time I gave him a phone number to use. He called straight away and we started talking, though I’d set an alarm to have an excuse to disconnect. The incident happened in mid-May of 2006. So approximately six months. We talked at least once a week during that time and I visited several times. Not too often or people might have noticed I was ducking off to Japan.”

Reborn nodded. “And his understanding of the basic Cloud nature?” He was honestly curious as to just how grounded Tsuna was.

“Very,” Skull replied. “But also hesitant in a lot of things. His mother, bless her soul, was very disconnected. Incredibly sweet and kind, but not really all there.” Skull’s eyebrows wiggled around meaningfully. “I remember talking with Oodako and being confused, because Tsuna seemed to think little of gaining guardians because he knew as Sky Arcobaleno he had a shorter lifespan than most, and he wasn’t sure about…” Skull’s mouth shut and twisted as he looked away for a moment.

“He had abandonment issues because of his father,” he said quietly.

Skull shrugged uncomfortably. “Something like that. He had trouble with the idea of anyone feeling responsibility toward him.”

Reborn snarled silently. He wondered if Iemitsu had remarried for love, or for duty, so he could produce more bloodline Vongola. “And Fon?”

“Um…” Skull wrinkled his nose in thought. “More peeking, then Daemon set up a dead drop and used his constructs to offer a job. Fon was in China and we actually had a request for over there, so it was sent to Fon as enticement. Fon eventually got curious enough to request a meeting, so he was offered a job over here. Tsuna once told me that Fon is the eye of a hurricane.”

He nodded. An apt enough description.

“Fon offered to teach him martial arts and, as we learned after they harmonized, there’s some Vongola technique that requires a lot of training. Unfortunately, actually testing it directly is something of an issue.”

He nodded again. Daemon had told him a bit more about Zero Point Breakthrough after Tsuna had dropped off that night. “Yes, from what I understand it would be problematical.”

“I suppose he could try if he stumbles into another incident,” Skull mused.

He raised a brow at his fellow guardian. For Tsuna’s sake he would lay off on his usual behavior around Skull—and because, much as it galled him, Skull was his senior in this.

“He and Fon went to get gelato one day and were targeted by some people into child pornography and prostitution. They lured the assholes into an alley and took them down. Romeo happened to be walking by and saw them about to be snatched, and raced in to help. It was weird because we’d run into him in Rome while we were sightseeing. Tsuna took one look at him and was… He had Daemon start surveilling him straight away.”

“Probably his intuition,” he muttered.

Skull nodded. “Presumably.”

Reborn eyed his Sky again; he and Fon had smoothly segued into a spar. “Tell me about Verde’s attempt?”

“Mm. He and Fon were warming up out back—at the original house—and from what Fon tells me, Tsuna just suddenly whipped around and slashed through two men who snuck up on them. He was pissed at having been forced to kill. Fon said Tsuna looked green for a while, bit shaky, but Daemon got him to go rest after the two of them harmonized. I went home the second I got word and stayed with him that night. I was more than a little freaked out.”

Reborn chuckled. “Considering how I unthinkingly defended his life, I can understand that. I was furious and a bit unhinged,” he admitted. “I _knew_ he was acting, but still… They were so rough handling him.”

Skull gave him a small smile and nodded. “And that was before you knew his actual age.”

He blanked out for a moment. Had he known? He would have lost it completely. He would have slaughtered every last one of them, shredded them with bullets like so much Swiss cheese. “Yeah.” As it was, Dino had passed through a crisis point and gained a major upgrade to his confidence. He had been more than a little surprised to learn exactly what sorts of esoteric things Leon could do when he felt the need. It was a point of pride that he was fairly certain Leon was the most unique of their companions.

“What do you think of Colonnello?” Skull asked.

His lips pursed. “I don’t yet know. He’s always seemed very happy at Mafia Land, handling security and training people. If he were with us he’d be… Bored? We’ve never spoken of…”

Skull snorted softly. “None of us ever thought we’d have the chance, right? Besides, none of this is exactly orthodox. Fon is in Asia regularly. You’re tutoring someone up north. I deliberately take multiple jobs at once so I can sate my need for solitude. The only one who’s here more or less constantly is Daemon. None of us have made it known we’ve harmonized. Byakuran knows, of course, and Tsuna doesn’t have a problem with Dino knowing. By and large, people have no idea. But our heart and home is here.”

“It is,” he said, noting how Fon would smoothly correct Tsuna as they sparred on the rare occasions their Sky would go off form. “He’s good.”

Skull nodded enthusiastically. “He actually knew some beforehand, but was very happy when Fon offered to help. There was only so much he could do on his own, and you know I’m not all that good at this kind of thing, though Fon’s been helping me get better. I can’t always rely on Oodako to be my muscle.”

Reborn was honestly surprised at that. He would never have expected Skull to take more of an interest in bettering his physical skills. On top of that, Skull was not acting in a way he was familiar with. He wasn’t pestering him for attention, he was simply there engaging in companionable conversation. He seemed at peace. Reborn could appreciate the changes, though it made him wonder how much he himself might change as a result of harmonization.

“Anything else about his training I might find of interest?” he asked.

“Mm. We spent quite a bit of time testing whether or not his intuition could be trained.”

That took him by surprise. “Eh?”

“Quince also liked the idea, so Byakuran lent us a warehouse for a while. A bunch of corridors were set up with relatively harmless traps in them. He went in blindfolded, and it was dark on top of that, to test the theory. And it works.” Skull shrugged. “He’d get hit with something—a foam noodle, for example—and after a few rounds his intuition would start to kick in. The first test run had three sections, each with its own kind of obstacle, ten per. I think he can navigate the house blind, actually.”

“You’re saying that exposure to danger of some kind, or potential harm, sharpens and widens the scope of his intuition,” he said softly. “Amazing.”

The door opened and Byakuran poked his head in. He quickly made his way over and took a seat, then produced a bag of marshmallows and offered them. Skull took some and Reborn took one to be polite, though he still pulsed it to check before having a nibble. Byakuran grinned at him and shook his head lightly, not at all offended.

Dinner made him want to melt into a gooey puddle of ecstasy. He had come to the decision that Tsuna’s cooking was so good because of the obvious love that went into it, and the honor he felt for his mother, his teacher. And for all he knew, a hint of flames were included. It didn’t matter. Tsuna’s cooking was wonderful and he looked forward to the time when he could have it every day.

He wished he’d had the chance to meet Nana Sawada.

That evening he watched Skull and Tsuna gleefully try to destroy each other in a video game. A fair amount of ribbing and playful insults were tossed back and forth, and it was easy to see the depth of affection the two had for each other. They were like brothers, he thought.

Before Tsuna went to bed he sat with him and mentioned that he had free run of the place (of course) and midnight snacks were perfectly all right. He took the time to more thoroughly investigate his suite of rooms. Everything in it had Arcobaleno-sized features or accommodations, such as a set of steps up to the bed.

Everything was high quality without pushing the boundaries of wretched excess, which pleased him. And beyond the pale yellow of the walls, the rooms were not overtly screaming that it was designed for a Sun. He was mildly surprised that Tsuna ran the house in addition to heading the business. His Sky cooked, did the laundry, cleaned up—though he suspected the others lent their own time toward those. There were no servants, after all, just the family.

A look into the bathroom revealed it owed more to Japan than Italy, but he had spent enough to time in that country to be comfortable. The cupboards beneath the sink were false and could be given a gentle kick to cause stairs to extend, yet another concession for the comfort of an Arcobaleno.

His sitting room had a cozy nook with floor-to-ceiling bookcases, complete with a ladder on rails. Plenty of space for a collection. Even the chairs in the room had steps incorporated into them, that could be kicked back underneath the seat to be out of the way.

He went to bed feeling very impressed by his Sky, and appreciative of the care that had gone into the manor accommodations.

After a quiet breakfast the next morning he followed Tsuna to the office and settled in. His Sky apologized and shuffled through the paperwork on his desk, swiftly sorting things, then looked up with a slight frown.

“Do you have any plans in the future to take the young master to Mafia Land?”

‘Clever,’ he thought. “No, but I can arrange it. It might be interesting to see how Dino reacts to Colonnello. And, I’m going to guess, it would give me an opportunity to sneakily sound him out.”

“It had crossed my mind, yes. I’ve no doubt that many believe the Arcobaleno are remote and untouchable.”

A hint of a smile touched his lips, but it was laced with bitterness.

“How do you want to work this? Trade off on visits? I don’t like the idea of not touching base regularly, in person. If the onus is on me to come north more often, that is fine, but it would be as it has been. There is also the fact that you are highly visible, though I’ve no doubt you can sneak with the best of them.”

His smile became more genuine. “Trades, yes, and you’re right. I could probably get away once a quarter for a few days.”

“Okay,” Tsuna said with a firm nod. “And I can come visit once a month for the weekend, assuming the Cavallone Nono does not get annoyed.”

“I can talk him around,” he said confidently. “With Daemon?”

“Or Romeo. He needs more experience, and sometimes I think I rely too heavily on Daemon. Of course, I could also position myself differently when I’m visiting, such that I have an eye on the approach to the courtyard, or at least don’t have my back to it.”

“Bianchi.”

Tsuna nodded.

“Has her brother contacted you yet?”

“No. I’m more concerned with the girl’s bizarre behavior. It’s not healthy to…”

He happened to agree, but it was experience for Dino—and Romario, for that matter—and she was not attacking him, unless lovestruck proclamations counted as an attack. He supposed if it got bad enough he could have a talk with Daemon about possibilities. He did not normally approve of that sort of tampering, preferring to just shoot, but as the problem was female… “I plan to see how that goes for a bit before considering my options. It’s complicated now.”

“She is in the grey area between civilian and not, which is why Romeo shielded against her and Daemon didn’t put the fear of God in her. She better be careful, because if she becomes an assassin and attacks me again, she’s likely to lose her life. Or become a nun.”

Reborn stared for a moment, then chuckled. “That would be a novel solution.”


	8. 08: 2010-2011

Tsuna blinked when he took in the contents of the latest letter from Reborn; it was almost effusive. His gift of sweets for Reborn’s birthday had gone over well, it seemed. It was seriously weird, this otherwise hidden side of Reborn’s, but he contented himself with a smile. He sent back information on his next planned visit and got on with his work.

He took Romeo with him, which unfortunately meant the trip took longer, as Romeo in no way had Daemon’s confidence when it came to evading the police (and he could not confound them with illusions). They arrived at Cavallone Manor an hour or so after lunch, in time to see Reborn barking orders at three men instead of two.

He ghosted on over to Reborn’s side and eyed the stranger curiously.

“That’s Ivan, Dino’s Rain,” Reborn said quietly.

“Oh? That was quick.”

His Sun smirked at him even as his eyes roamed around, presumably reassuring himself as to Tsuna’s health and well-being. “I have incentive. And you helped in your own way. He’s far more receptive to the idea after having met you.”

“Oh,” he repeated. “Glad I could help, then. Like I said, I think he’s a sweet kid and—well, maybe it’s my own issues confusing things, but I thought maybe it’d help for a not-his-father Sky to…”

Reborn nodded sagely. “I fully intend to have the kid ready by the time he’s twenty. The wording on the contract is a little fuzzy in places—all to my advantage, of course—because I had warning.”

He leaned into his Sun. “Of?”

“You.”

Tsuna straightened up so he could look at Reborn properly. “What do you mean? My coming was foretold like in some epic multi-book saga?”

A smile flashed by before Reborn said, “Luce’s daughter, Aria, had a vision. Told me I really ought to take up the strange offer I was going to get soon.”

“Huh.” He eyed the three Cavallone as they shifted from warming up to entering a three-way spar. Romeo wandered into view long enough to use hand signals to report an all clear, then disappeared again. “Well, some people just have interesting talents. I never thought to ask. How did the young one actually handle his first kill?”

Reborn snorted softly. “After it finally sank in he fell apart, but I was expecting that. I gave him a bracing pep talk.”

“Did it involve explosives?”

“Well, of course,” Reborn drawled. “I knocked some sense into him. Once he finally wraps his head around the concept of protecting those who can’t protect themselves—while still making loads of money, of course—he’ll be fine, and a lot less like a wild, unbroken stallion.”

“And you complain about my people and puns?” he retorted.

“I am just trying to cater to whatever genetic imperative it is that causes puns to dribble out,” Reborn said innocently.

Tsuna giggled madly. “Hai, hai. So ka. I have been experimenting. You know the ribbon I make, yes? I have tried a, um, trip wire? To warn me. A spider’s web, of sorts.”

Reborn’s brow slid up, though his gaze never left the ongoing spar. “A single wire wouldn’t do much, but a web? Yes. Can you keep it up even while sleeping?”

“Mm, no, not yet. My resolve slips. But if you keep the strands like fine silk… Perhaps not noticed. I started thinking after talking to you, how I worry I rely on Kiri too much. Then when I went to prepare my gift for your birthday it hit me, what I might be able to manage. Even if it does not work in the end, perhaps it would serve as a method of teaching fine control,” he mused.

“I’m going to think on that for a while,” Reborn said thoughtfully. “Do some of my own experiments. On a side note, I’ve checked into Mafia Land’s schedule and am working on plans for that. The pipsqueak has been reminded that it’s no one’s business but ours, the harmonization. We’re cutting it close, but Mafia Land will be in the vicinity in February. I’ll spin it off as a birthday present. An exciting birthday present.”

He nodded and winced as the Rain, Ivan, was knocked out. Dino had done it accidentally while attempting to get in a hit on Romario. Tsuna considered using his Earth ring to float the man out of the way, but checked himself. These were not his men, and they would have to learn to deal with complications like the downed. Instead he glanced at the entrance to the courtyard where Romeo was presently skulking.

After their usual greeting of an exchange of bullets and insults, Colonnello proceeded to beat the snot out Dino, Romario, Ivan, and Michael. The Rain Arcobaleno had the advantage—after all, the back side of Mafia Land was designed as a training ground, unlike the courtyard of Cavallone Manor. Colonnello could afford to pull out all the stops and bring his best game into play.

Reborn strung up a hammock between two trees and hopped in to relax a bit and watch. Once Colonnello started them through the obstacle course they could speak, or later, in Colonnello’s quarters, while Dino and his men slept the sleep of the exhausted and nearly dead. That is exactly what they did, hours later.

He ensured that his charge was properly in his suite before hastening off to visit with his old “friend”, and was shortly ensconced in a comfy chair with a White Russian to sip.

After the initial pleasantries were out of the way Colonnello said, “Any interesting news?”

He could take that to mean many things. He was saved from having to invent something witty when the island shook, reminding him that it was that time of the year. It was something of a joke at Mafia Land, how Carcassa staged a protest attack annually, and failed, annually.

Colonnello scowled and reached for a remote so he could turn on a series of wall screens linked to island security cameras. “Seriously, what’s with these maggots? Is this some kind of initiation ritual, and the picciotto who survive get promoted? Every damn year these assholes attack. Wish to hell I could just go wipe them out.”

“Oh?” he said, brow rising slowly. “Been frustrated lately?”

“Shut the fuck up, Reborn.”

He smirked and sipped, letting the liquid roll around on his tongue before swallowing. “You can have my stalker if you want,” he said, then tilted his head slightly to avoid the bullet that whizzed past. “You heard or seen anything yet?”

The blond eyed him huffily. “No. Not a damn thing. Wherever this Sky is…” He shook his head. “How the hell have they managed to hide?”

Reborn eyed his “friend” closely under cover of another sip. “I wonder… Well, even if found? What would you even do?” He shrugged and turned his gaze on the screen which would give him the best peripheral view of Colonnello’s expression.

Narrowed blue eyes stared at him, and he thought for a moment he had blown any attempt at subtlety. “What the hell does it matter, anyway?” Colonnello said bitterly. “It’s like we were chosen because the odds were stacked against us ever finding that kind of happiness.”

He refrained from pointing out that Colonnello had played hero and landed his own fat in the fire. “But what if you did? I’ve been asking myself the same question. What would I do if I stumbled over the Sky. I’d probably pray,” he muttered.

Colonnello scoffed. “Whoever it is is probably like Luce was, already fully bonded. Why bother to hope?”

He wanted to ask what the point of living was if hope was gone, but considering for how long he had buried his own dreams he could not bring himself to voice that hypocrisy. Instead he affected mild surprise. “Oh. I thought you were perfectly happy here. I didn’t realize you would seek harmonization if the new Sky was open to the idea. You’ve always been so independent.” He swirled his drink and had another sip, his gaze flicking to a different screen. Mafia Land’s security forces were making short work of Carcassa, though not even close to as swiftly as Colonnello could manage solo.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Colonnello said testily. “Most people would give their left arm to harmonize with a good Sky.”

“True, I don’t dispute that,” he said reasonably. “I just didn’t realize you were one of them, especially since it’d mean giving up your position here.”

Colonnello poured himself another drink, which told Reborn just how agitated he was. “It is a lot of fun here, but for the right Sky? I’d give it up in a heartbeat.”

His lips pursed in response, and then he noticed something in his peripheral vision. A look that way, disguised as changing which screen he was watching, revealed a message floating in the air. Daemon obviously had spies in the room and was coordinating with Tsuna. He nodded slightly and said, “I see.”

“Wouldn’t you?” Colonnello said a bit roughly.

“Yes,” he replied. “I know what I’d like in a Sky. You’d probably want much the same.”

“I expect so.” Talk returned to the ineptitude of Carcassa for the remainder of the evening, and he returned to his room.

The next morning Dino and his men were being run ragged on the obstacle course again. Another illusion message had appeared for him so he knew what to expect. In light of that, when he got a warning message, he strung up his hammock again and took a “nap”. Like Colonnello, he had a disturbing habit of sleeping with his eyes open at times, and this was one of them.

The blond twitched in surprise when his pacifier began to glow, signaling that another Arcobaleno was nearby, but when he turned to Reborn, Reborn continued to feign sleep. He did not “wake up” until an hour later, when an illusionary warning flashed up. He covered a fake yawn and dropped down from his hammock, then eyed the obstacle course. Dino looked like he had been dunked in a mud puddle and pulled backward through a hedge.

The subway train schussed to a stop and ejected two small figures. Reborn blinked slowly when he realized they were identical, with silky, blue-black hair that lay flat, cat ears, and sky blue eyes. He tucked away the intent to ask Daemon about his kinks later. They were also both distinctly European and dressed in smart little suits—Armani? Gucci? They each carried an envelope with a certain amount of reverence. The one he thought was Tsuna strolled over to Colonnello and presented the envelope, laid flat on his palm. Reborn smirked faintly on seeing the orange ribbon banding it in lieu of a traditional seal.

“What the hell?” Colonnello said, eyeing the two “men” and the envelope.

“Oya! You never seen couriers before? Front desk directed us here.”

The second “man”, the one he suspected was Daemon, was guarding Tsuna’s back and looking around with squinty-eyed suspicion as he scanned the surrounding territory.

“Since when are couriers this small?”

Tsuna frowned. “Oya! You gonna make something of my height, short-stuff? You’re not exactly making me look up to you.”

Colonnello scowled and adjusted his gun.

“Compensating for something?” Tsuna asked. “Now, you gonna accept this delivery or what? I got shit to do today and a roller coaster to conquer before duty calls once more and we hafta leave.”

“Do you even know who I am?” Colonnello demanded.

Tsuna sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes. “Yeah. The recipient of a letter the firm was paid to deliver. Beyond that, I don’t give a shit.”

Colonnello started to snarl, then visibly took a breath and calmed himself. “Fine. Hand it over,” he said, reaching out.

Tsuna set the letter in the blond’s hand, then whipped a pen and a small clipboard out of his jacket and scribbled something on the paper secured to it. “Initial here, please,” he said, tapping a spot with the pen nib, then offered it up.

Colonnello sighed and did as directed after giving the paper a thorough look, then handed it all back.

Tsuna and Daemon then switched roles, with Daemon approaching Reborn and Tsuna taking up guard duty. Reborn kept his expression clear as he accepted his letter and initialed where indicated. “Very efficient,” he commented quietly.

Daemon winked and gave him a distinctly cat-like smile, then hastened off with Tsuna, back to the subway car. Once they were away—and he had his doubts on that point—he broke the seal on his letter and smirked when he read: what do you think? were the cat ears cute or what? i’ll have to let you read my kuroshitsuji collection. ciao, taiyo!

He folded it up and tucked it away in one of his many, many pockets deep inside his outfit. He looked up to see Colonnello staring at his letter in disbelief. “Something wrong?”

Pale blue eyes snapped over to look at him, then went back to examining the letter. “It’s a non-disclosure agreement.”

His attention was diverted by Dino staggering out of the end of the course, looking like some big dog had used him as a chew toy. His guardians did not look much better. He clapped his hands and said, “Right. Time for a short break, I think. Go get cleaned up and have lunch.” He walked rather than use his student as a perch, following as they trudged off toward the subway. “More after lunch?” he called back to Colonnello.

“Eh? Yeah. See you then.”

‘This is fucked up,’ he thought. His head ached, he was irritable, and that delivery person had thrown him for a loop. What mafioso did _not_ know about the Arcobaleno? ‘I really need to stop drinking on Carcassa Invasion Night. I can’t handle weird shit nearly so well with a hangover.’

He looked down at the paper in his hands and wondered what Reborn got. He had noticed the faint smirk of amusement. But getting information out of Reborn was like pulling teeth out of an eldritch horror; if the man didn’t want to talk, he wouldn’t.

‘This here shows they’ve done their homework and know I consider my word sacred, which would explain the NDA. If I sign it I’m bound to that promise. And my pacifier earlier. Wait—is this somehow connected to our missing Sky?’ He stared at the NDA again. He could ask Reborn, but if Reborn had also been approached with the same, he probably wouldn’t be willing to share. The Sun Arcobaleno kept his cards close and hidden most of the time, unless it was to his advantage to let someone get a peek at his hand.

“Damn it.” He folded the NDA and tucked it away, then called for men to fix up the course while he went to have lunch. He sucked down way too much of his favorite sports drink to try to get his electrolyte balance back into whack, and ate his meal without really tasting any of it.

When he returned to the training grounds Reborn was set up at a little table and munching on something. The smile on his face was slight, but beatific. A look sent the four Cavallone onto the course again, so he marched over and took a seat, eyeing the box Reborn had. “Tell me that isn’t from your stalker.”

“Not a chance in hell,” Reborn said after swallowing, then put a brownie on a napkin and pushed it over.

He took it cautiously and let the scent waft up to his nose, then nibbled a corner. His eyes slid shut at the taste.

“Good, right?”

His eyes snapped open. “Good? This is way better than good. Where—?”

“A very good friend of mine,” Reborn confided. “I get regular care packages. When he heard I was making a trip to Mafia Land he included something extra.”

Colonnello mourned the fact that his brownie was gone so quickly. “And?”

Reborn reached into the box again and removed a cookie of some kind. That, too, was placed on a napkin and pushed over. “He likes to call them Flu-Fighters.”

He examined the latest offering. He saw nuts, what looked like cranberries… Were those sultanas? A bite revealed cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves wrapped up in a buttery dough. He was fairly sure there was a lot more going on, but he was having trouble picking out the individual flavors. It was wonderful, and he quickly finished it.

He stared at Reborn unhappily. “How do you rate?”

“I told you, he’s a very good friend. And obviously, an exceptional cook.”

Colonnello shook his head. “There’s cooks, and there’s bakers.”

“He’s both.”

Reborn said it with such confidence that Colonnello simply accepted it. It was too bad that Lal was neither. And speaking of Lal… He was reminded of the NDA in his pocket. If he signed it, he would have to keep it from her. She understood as well as he did about operational security, and while this might not be on the same order, it was close enough for government. He absently accepted another napkin and nodded his thanks.

Reborn packed the box away after that and refused to share any more of it, which was upsetting. He really liked those cookies. That evening, after a healthy dinner, he went over the NDA again. If he signed it, then the actual offer on the table would be revealed. Was it a job? Was it their missing Sky ensuring his privacy? What?

Signing it did not compel him to accept whatever it was, just to not talk about it; the NDA was very clear on that point. With that in mind he unfolded the contract, grabbed a pen, and signed. After that he ran it through the copier and collected the copies so he could file them, and hunted down an envelope so he could have it delivered back to the included address. Considering that was a post office box he assumed it was a drop point, possibly one of many it would go through.

He was walking with Colonnello, with the intent to share dinner in his fellow Arcobaleno’s quarters, when the sound of light, quick footsteps caused him to glance over his shoulder. A child that could have passed as his own son was scampering down the hallway toward him, a joyous smile visible. ‘Right.’

“Hey, hey!” the child cried, then stumbled, going down on one knee. A tear escaped from one eye and his lower lip began to tremble.

Before he or Colonnello could do much a man hastened around the corner in an anxious pother. He was dressed in a butler’s suit. “Master Ciel, please don’t run like that,” the man pleaded, “it’s not dignified.” He rushed over and picked the boy up.

Reborn was amused to see a mightily confused look on Colonnello’s face. “It’s fine, Sebastian,” he said calmly. “I’m sure Colonnello won’t mind extra for dinner.”

Sebastian gave him a dubious look, then finished checking over his charge. He set Ciel down carefully to avoid being kicked from all the squirming going on, and sighed delicately when the boy scampered over to Reborn and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, hey! I missed you!”

“I missed you, too, Ciel,” he said honestly, trying not to laugh.

Colonnello finally did something other than frown. “What the hell?”

Ciel gasped and stared at the man in horror, then addressed Reborn again. “The nice men at the gates told me where you’d be,” he said, smiling happily. “Maman said I could visit.”

“Is it that time of the year already?” he mused.

Ciel nodded and stared at him adoringly, then switched focus to Colonnello. “Hey, hey, that gun is really big! Do you fall over when you shoot it? It looks heavy! How do you know Reborn? I’m Ciel, who’re you? Are you Reborn’s friend?”

Colonnello’s mouth shut with a click of teeth, then he stared at Reborn blankly.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he said.

Ciel tugged on Colonnello’s sleeve. “Hey, hey, why don’t you answer? Are you okay? Do I need to get Maman? She can, um, I forget the word. But there’s pretty lights involved. Does that make a lot of noise when it’s fired? Does it make things … explode?” He sounded entirely too thrilled about the idea.

“How about we go inside?” Reborn said smoothly, and gently nudged Colonnello. A minute later they were in the privacy of the Rain Arcobaleno’s suite and seated at the table. Sebastian took care of ordering the food and soon enough they were all served their meals, while the “butler” took up a spot nearby and tried to blend in with the furniture.

“Have you been keeping up with your studies?” he asked conversationally as he sliced into his veal.

Ciel beamed at him and nodded a few times. “Yes, Papa Reborn! I’ve been a good boy!”

“Papa Reborn?” Colonnello mouthed, then shoved a forkful of vegetables into his mouth.

“Good,” he said. “If you work hard you can be super cool like me when you grow up.”

Ciel squealed, which made Colonnello wince.

“And eat all your veggies,” he added.

“Ho-kay.” Ciel stabbed a carrot and stuck it in his mouth, then chewed industriously. After he swallowed he whispered, “They have honey on them. It’s really nummy.”

He chuckled, ostensibly regarding Ciel, but in reality at the look on Colonnello’s face. He quite enjoyed watching Tsuna mess with people, so long as he was not the target.

When it was time for dessert, Sebastian stepped back into the picture and produced three individual-size cheesecakes drizzled with raspberry sauce. Colonnello had just taken a bite when Ciel said to him, “Hey, hey.”

Colonnello quickly finished his mouthful and replied, “…Yes?”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes.”

“Ho-kay! If you’re nice to me, maybe you’ll get care packages, too.”

Colonnello’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Huh?”

Ciel smirked, the childishness draining from his expression. “Well, you signed the NDA. That means you won’t come down with a case of loose lips.”

Colonnello suddenly face-palmed, his cheeks tinting red. “Ciel? French for Sky? Good God.”

He chuckled again and enjoyed more of his cheesecake, only for the blond to glower at him. “You knew!”

“Of course I did,” he said with a shrug. “Someone had to find out if a personal meeting was warranted.”

“Hey, hey,” Ciel said, “don’t pick on my Sun. If you’re interested in the possibility of harmonization, I’m willing to try. I had to be certain you’d be okay to leave this place if it happens. And if we do not suit, I still don’t want word getting around.”

Colonnello eyed his Sky. “Who else do you have?”

Ciel shook his head. “Not really relevant at the moment. This is about you and me. Now, if I can get a verbal oath from you, I’ll revert to my normal appearance, share contact information, and that sort of stuff.” He reached back in time to accept a piece of paper from Sebastian, which he slid over to Colonnello.

When the blond shot a look at him he smiled and said, “I advise you to take the oath.” He knew Colonnello would sooner commit seppuku than break his word.

“Shit,” Colonnello muttered, then started reading. Ten minutes later—which gave him and Ciel plenty of time to finish their dessert—Colonnello heaved a sigh and read the oath out loud, then fished out a pen and signed the paper, as well, and pushed it back over.

Ciel nodded, folded it, and tucked it away, then signaled to Sebastian.

Reborn snorted and said, “Nice ears.”

“The delivery guy, too!?” Colonnello complained.

Tsuna scowled and looked over his shoulder. “Kiri!”

“But you look cute!” Daemon protested. “Oh, fine.” He pulled out a chair and sat down, then removed the alterations to Tsuna’s appearance.

The colour drained from Colonnello’s face. “No way,” he breathed. “You’re the missing Vongola child.”

Tsuna’s eyes flared orange and his smile was cold and sharp. “And you gave your oath.”

“…I did,” Colonnello said with a faint nod.

Tsuna beamed an innocent smile, complete with sparkles and rainbow halo, and Reborn choked back a snort of amusement when the blond got a poleaxed look on his face. His Sky turned to him and said, “Did you like those cookies? They were an experiment.”

He nodded. “Very nice. Maybe next time I’m at home you can make some fruit tartlets?”

Tsuna pulled out his phone and entered a note, then tucked it away.

“How—? What the hell?”

Tsuna tilted his head. “You say that a lot, Ame. Well, it’s like this. That man thought that by essentially abandoning us it would keep us safe. He was wrong. I don’t like to talk about him. The fact that you recognize me means it’s likely he was bragging at some point and showing off pictures.”

“He was,” Colonnello confirmed.

Tsuna sighed and shook his head. “Enough about him. So, I am Tsunayoshi Sawada, also known as Sora, also known as Welkin.”

Colonnello stared for a moment, then nodded. “You’re an information broker. Good reputation.”

“I hope so. My people work hard. So, just so I have some idea, are you contracted to work here, or…?”

“It’s a yearly contract,” Colonnello replied. “I renew the first of January.”

Tsuna nodded. “Plenty of time to get to know one another, then, without jumping the gun. It seems to take, eh…”

“About six months,” he supplied.

“Hai. Arigato, Taiyo. To give you a quick background, I woke up on my fifth birthday as Sky Arcobaleno, in a memorial of sorts. It gave me some information about my fellow Arcobaleno, plus a whole lot about flames in general. It was there I learned how to, um, reconcile the roles of each guardian. I was away with a friend when my mother was murdered, and left Japan the next day in the company of two friends. I have been in Italy ever since. Shortly after that I decided to start my business.

“I have no plans to reveal myself to Vongola until and unless it becomes necessary. Vongola problems are not my problems. So, I will schedule time to be here, to visit, so we can get to know one another, yes?”

“I have plenty of vacation time I can use,” Colonnello pointed out.

“And you can be a sneaky bastard when you want to be,” he said.

Colonnello nodded. “I would have to be.”

Reborn watched as Tsuna appeared to think things over, his eyes going a bit unfocused in a way that made him think Daemon was giving him advice via illusions. His Sky pulled a notebook out of his pocket and wrote something down, then ripped out the page and slid it over to Colonnello.

“Memorize that, please. The first address is to a drop. The second is to a meeting point where, to visit, the first time you would have an escort. There is already a suite set aside at the house. What we do—well, perhaps it’s not as exciting as the annual Carcassa invasion, but…”

Colonnello scoffed rudely. “Stupid maggots,” he muttered.

His Sky turned wide and innocent eyes on him. “Taiyo… You’re here for a few more days, right?”

He smiled in good humor. “Yes, Sora. What would like me to do?” His Sky was a manipulative little beast—he wondered how much of that trait came from spending so much time with Daemon—and when he was telegraphing it loudly it really was a request and not an order.

“Um… I can’t really stay, so I was hoping that since you’ll be enjoying your holiday of watching the young master not have one, you could fill Ame in on a few things. I trust your judgment, so whatever you think is relevant prior to the possibility of harmonization…”

He nodded. “I’ll handle it.” A warmth kindled in Tsuna’s amber eyes that made his heart squee.

“Well, we have a long way to go, so I should get some rest,” Tsuna continued.

Daemon immediately got up and snatched Tsuna off his chair. Tsuna wrinkled his nose and said, “Okay, I guess I’ll say good-bye from up here. I look forward to getting to know you, Ame. Reborn has had much to say.” His eyes twinkled mischievously as Colonnello shot a look of suspicion at Reborn.

He shot a look at Tsuna and shook his head slightly. “Thanks so much,” he said with a sarcastic lilt.

Tsuna grinned. “Ciao, Ame! Ciao, Taiyo!”

He waved lazily and nodded at Daemon. A moment later they were gone, and he was left with a scowling Colonnello.

“What the hell?”

“He’s right, you really do say that a lot,” he observed. “Never noticed it before now.”

“Shut the fuck up, Reborn. What the hell have you been saying about me?”

“If I’m supposed to shut the fuck up, how the hell can I answer that?”

Colonnello clutched at his hair, then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“Christ, man, you’re a Rain. You’re supposed to be all tranquil and shit.”

“Fuck you.” Colonnello got up and hunted down glasses and some wine, then poured.

Reborn took pity on him after a sip. “I didn’t say much. It’s better he gets to know you from personal interaction and not from someone else’s perception.”

The tight set of Colonnello’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

“Just like I’ll share some things with you, but you have to decide on your own what you think of him and how you feel. To give you an example, we met at one point at a little café and he told me that before he even considered approaching me he did some investigating.”

“Well, he is an information broker,” Colonnello muttered.

Reborn nodded. “He’d heard a rumor that I’d deliberately repressed some of my memories from Before, and if that was accurate…”

“He wouldn’t be getting to know the real you.”

“Right,” he said, glad to see that Colonnello was on point. “Don’t talk about his father. That much I will say. He loathes his father. He’s also an excellent actor as you might have noticed, but if you pay attention, you’ll learn his moods.”

Colonnello nodded. “He’s ten. Is he—what kind of skills are we talking about here?”

Reborn had a sip of wine first. “He’s good. I’ve watched him fight, both to kill and to disable. So don’t go thinking his age is a factor. In fact, start thinking of him as an adult now. He does have his childish moments, but by and large, he’s not one, not any longer. Suspicions aside on that, because it doesn’t matter in the end.”

“You think he’d let me run him through the course during a visit? So I could see for myself?”

He shrugged. “Probably. He might think it was fun.”

“Well I know he’s a good actor. He certainly had me snowed. Twice, even! That Kiri fellow—his Mist?”

He nodded. “They are an unholy duo. So…”

He looked up as Daemon breezed into his office and sighed at the lack of expression on his Mist’s face.

Daemon nodded and gave a little shrug. “Iesada Sawada was born.”

Tsuna bit his lip. “I wonder how many.”

Daemon shrugged again. “The more there are, the more chance of a Sky. But we won’t know for a few years yet, at the earliest. There’s something else, though.”

He frowned, trying to figure that out. The only thing—“Hayato?”

“Yes. We may end up taking him on.”

He slumped in his chair and propped his head against a fist. “Oya. That reminds me, actually. Will you see if you can track down Fūta? I have no idea when his talent activated.”

“Thinking of taking in another stray?” Daemon asked with a quirked brow.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we can park him with Dino if he ends up in trouble.”

Daemon rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Yes, I’ll try to track him down to keep an eye on him.”

“I’m sorry, all right? I can’t help but feel a little responsible. I know he’s not the same person, but I did promise to protect him in another life. Though… He can be pretty tricky with using ranking defensively, but I think he’d be wise to actually learn how to defend himself properly. And that’s assuming he has the same talent here. With the way he makes stuff float you’d think he was an Earth.”

Daemon started to scoff, but then adopted a thoughtful look. “You just made the assignment way more interesting, Tsuna love.”

A few days later a letter arrived from Hayato. He had finally worked himself up enough to want to hire Welkin. “Damn it,” he muttered.

Fon looked up from where he was perusing requests and quirked a brow.

“You remember I told you about the Scorpione thing? Yeah. The boy wants to hire us. And, as a suspected Storm, if… ugh.”

“I could take offense to that, but I won’t,” Fon said wryly.

Tsuna stuck his tongue out. “If I bring the kid here, will you please be present?”

“Yes,” Fon said agreeably. “Will you have Daemon ensure the boy won’t speak of our roles?”

“Absolutely. I don’t like doing it, but I will. Last thing I want is for half the country to know where most of the Arcobaleno call home.”

“Yes, well. I will take a few short jobs so I can stick closer. Just let me know when I need to be here properly.”

He nodded. “Thank you, Fon.”

Daemon was sent to get Hayato and escort him to the manor, and his arrival happened to coincide with a visit from Reborn, who promptly invited himself to the meeting and set about cleaning one of the many guns he somehow secreted about his person. How he managed it without destroying the line of his clothing was not something Tsuna had ever figured out.

Hayato entered Tsuna’s office with Daemon behind him and stopped dead on seeing three tiny people awaiting him. “Eh?”

“Konnichiwa, Scorpione-san. You may call me Sora. Please, be seated. With me are—”

“I know you,” Hayato interrupted, eyeing Reborn. “You’re like a legend.”

“And you’re rude,” Reborn shot back. “Might want to work on that, kid.”

Hayato blinked, then scowled. He looked around and saw that Fon was giving him a cool look, and Daemon’s expression was like ice. He hastily took the chair set aside for him and looked at Tsuna.

“As I was saying,” he said evenly, “with me are Reborn, whom you seem to recognize, and Arashi. You already know Kiri. This request of yours, it is … delicate. You ran away. Kiri picked you up off the streets. Why?”

He stayed quiet through the passionate rant that followed. Nothing he heard was a surprise. It was just different hearing it come from the mouth of a ten year old as opposed to that of a boy who’d been on the streets for years before Reborn snatched him up. Hayato eventually wound down.

“So to summarize, your home life is shit, you suspect something about your mother, and you want the truth.”

Hayato looked vaguely sheepish when he nodded.

“Oya. Got to work on that temper of yours. Let me ask you: if what you suspect is even true, what do you plan to do? Stay on the streets? There’s a lot of bad people out there who’d snatch you up and put you to work as a child prostitute. I should know, they tried it on me once.”

Hayato went green and his face scrunched up in disgust.

He shrugged. “They learned better, but there are still plenty of that ilk out there. Setting aside your suspicions for the moment, what is you want out of life?”

Hayato looked confused. “…I want to be taken seriously.”

Tsuna nodded. “And are you willing to work for that? Because that’s the kind of thing you earn.”

Hayato erupted again, and a gun went off. The bullet took a stripe of skin off the boy’s nose.

Reborn coughed. “My hand slipped,” he said apologetically. “I’ll get the wall fixed.”

Tsuna sent a warm smile his way and nodded.

“He almost shot me!” Hayato squeaked.

Tsuna sighed. Seeing his once friend like this, so raw again, was painful and made his heart ache. “There are a couple of ways you could pay for what you’re asking. One is money, obviously.”

“And the second?” Hayato asked, his shoulders hunched slightly.

“You want to be taken seriously, yes? I could train you to become an agent. You can get away with a lot when you’re sub-adult, and training now would make you that much more effective when you are grown up.”

The silveret’s brows drew together as he processed that. “Wouldn’t that put me deeper in debt?”

Tsuna held back a smile. “It would delay payment on your part, and when you were ready to take jobs, a portion of your pay would be withheld. However, I would expect you to still care about your normal education. This presents a problem, because even though you’ve run away, your father still holds legal custody. That being so, you might prefer to simply pay the fee. Now, it’s a big decision to make, so let’s table it until tomorrow, yes?”

“I—but—”

“Good. I’ll get you set up for the night in one of the guest rooms.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Fon said.

“Oh? All right. Thank you.” And hopefully Fon could knock some sense into the kid. “Dinner at the usual time.”

Fon efficiently bundled Hayato off. Once they were safely away Tsuna grinned at Reborn.

“What? He annoyed me.”

He giggled madly and nodded. “Well, from what I’ve been able to find out, the kid is real good at mathematics.”

Reborn’s expression smoothed out. “Oh? Hm.”

“Maybe if he takes up the offer of training, you can put the fear of God into him during your visits,” he suggested. “Just, you know, save the explosives for outside.”

“For you? Yes. If you make steak tonight.”

“Okay. Sides?”

“Mm, something vegetablish.”

Tsuna snorted. “All right, then. I need to go shopping.” Daemon accompanied him and they were back an hour later. Tsuna made sure the grill was good to go, then returned to the kitchen so he could chop various vegetables and slide them on skewers to grill along with the steaks. He was halfway through making them when he realized he had no idea how Hayato liked his steak. “Um… Reborn?”

“Yes?”

“First, stop stealing the peppers. Second, can you find out how Hayato likes his steak, please?”

Reborn stole another slice of pepper. “Sure, sure. Be back shortly.” He strolled off insolently munching on his treasure. He was back by the time Tsuna was done putting the skewers together. “Medium.”

“Okay.” He got a few other things ready, such as a grill sauce for the vegetables, and loaded up a cart. Reborn followed him like a lost puppy as he pushed the cart outside to the grill area. “Hm?”

“I keep thinking if I just keep watching you cook, I’ll be able to figure out how you do it,” Reborn said a bit distantly.

He simply hummed. He knew damn well Reborn had it figured out. His Sun just wanted to spend as much time as he could nearby during the short visits he could manage, so he came up with ridiculous excuses. Reborn had somehow maneuvered Dino into another harmonization, with a Lightning named Bono, and he had two others his eye was on that might mesh well with the young master.

Tsuna was just putting the skewers into place when Romeo wandered out and spotted them. He walked over and gave him a quick squeeze on the shoulder, then sighed happily over the food soon to be consumed.

“That kid’s here?”

Tsuna nodded. “He’s a bit, um…”

Romeo snorted. “Yeah, okay. You need me to get anything ready?”

He eyed the sky and decided it should be safe enough. “Can you bring plates and stuff out here? We can eat on the deck.”

“Sure thing, boss man.” Romeo sauntered off. When he returned with another loaded cart the others were following him. Daemon and Romeo set the table, sans plates, and poured wine; even Hayato would be getting some. Daemon trundled the cart over and held the plates as Tsuna loaded up each one. The only person who liked medium well was Tsuna, so it did not matter who got what plate aside from the one.

Hayato just watched the proceedings with wide eyes. Fon must have told him there were no servants in the manor—a sensible person would have, and Fon was an imminently sensible person—so the wide eyes must be disbelief at seeing the truth unfold.

Tsuna took the head of the table, looked at his friends, and nodded. “Have at it, guys.” With that he used his fork to slide the vegetables off the skewer and set it aside, then snagged the butter dish so he could put a decent chunk on his steak. While that was melting he stabbed a broccoli floret and began to eat.

Hayato was very cautious when it came to actually eating anything, but after seeing everyone else gleefully dig in, he sliced off a bit of steak and popped it in his mouth. His eyes went wide again and he began to eat normally.

Tsuna nodded to himself, stabbed Reborn’s hand when he attempted to steal a pepper off his plate, and had a piece of steak himself. A little blood never hurt anyone, right?

Daemon had constructs do the clean up work, so they all repaired to the living room and Tsuna enticed Hayato into playing a video game with him. Every time Hayato got too worked up Fon would shoot a look at the boy, and he would settle back down again. Tsuna could only pray that his Storm had things well in hand. Even so, there was always the chance Hayato would opt to just pay the fee. When ten o’clock rolled around Fon hustled Hayato off to bed.

Breakfast was fairly quiet, and Tsuna called for a round of training before Hayato could get any ideas about making a decision so quickly. The boy was parked in a corner of the training room they chose and got to watch as everyone warmed up a bit. Tsuna went first in a spar against Romeo; he drew the fight out a bit, but won the match handily enough. Of course, with three other guardians watching, they could all consider ways to bring Romeo along even further.

Reborn went against Fon next, purely using martial arts. Fon had the edge, but Fon was conversant with over a hundred styles. They both seemed to understand what Tsuna was up to, so they showed off a bit and drew things out, even going so far as to do things like bounce off the damn walls. Fon won, of course, but Reborn took the loss with good grace.

Tsuna laughed. “I love watching you two.”

They both bowed. “Let’s cool down now,” Fon said.

Twenty minutes later they were trooping off to bathe, leaving Daemon to keep an eye on Hayato. By the time Tsuna returned to the kitchen, after a stretch in his office, to see about lunch, Hayato was already in there sipping some juice. Tsuna smiled and nodded, then went to the refrigerator.

“So you can all do that stuff?”

He looked back over his shoulder inquiringly. “Stuff?”

“Like those orange weapons you were throwing, or that weird barrier.”

Tsuna turned away and pulled a number of things from the refrigerator, placing them on the counter, then closed the appliance and turned back. “What you saw was various manifestations of Dying Will Flames. And yes, we can all use them. In theory, any person could, but the vast majority of people never unlock them and never even realize something like them exists.” Since Hayato was in a talkative mood, he ferried his supplies over to the island and hooked the riser out with one foot so he could step up.

“So I could do it?”

Tsuna squinted at him. “Personality-wise, I’d say you’re probably a Storm. Like Arashi,” he added.

Hayato looked rightly skeptical.

He pulled out his tools and began cutting. “Arashi has had time to learn to be calm, to be centered. Martial arts tend to do that. Storms tend to be rebellious, explosive, and go off half-cocked.”

Hayato became very interested in his juice for a minute. “What can Storms, um, do?”

“The main property of Storm Flames is disintegration.”

“And the barrier guy?”

He smiled at the description. “That’s Lightning, and the property is hardening. He can increase the firmness of something and project a barrier of flame, as examples. The role of a Lightning is primarily defensive, but any flame user can use their flames offensively. It just sometimes takes more creativity to think of ways to do so.”

Hayato nodded and sucked down more juice. He was adorable as a ten year old. “And you? You’re a…?”

‘I guess it makes sense that he’s so clueless. After all, they never took him seriously, so why would anyone have explained?’ he thought. “I’m a Sky, and the base property is harmony.”

As expected, Hayato looked confused.

“The others are Sun and activation, Rain and tranquility, Cloud and propagation, and Mist and construction. Sometimes people have more than one flame type, but it’s not especially common.”

“So if I decided I wanted to train to be an agent—well, my father could make things difficult.”

Tsuna nodded. “Without some kind of arrangement, you staying here would be tantamount to kidnapping on our parts.”

Hayato almost managed to pull off a nonchalant shrug. “I honestly don’t think he’d care,” he said somewhat bitterly. “The only thing he thought I was good for anyway was playing the piano.”

“Well, no pressure. I want you to think things through and not just decide recklessly,” he said. “Consider talking to Kaminari. He was a freelancer before I hired him. Really good at getting in and out of places without being noticed.”

“Eh… You call people by their flame type?”

Tsuna’s brow went up in surprise.

“My piano teacher was half Japanese and sometimes spoke in a mixture of that and Italian, so I started to pick it up,” Hayato explained.

“Ah. Not everyone wants to be known by their real name.”

“So yours isn’t really Sora,” Hayato said with a nod.

“Right. It’s a real enough name, just not the one I was given at birth.” He finished up his preparations and threw everything into a large glass bowl and tossed it. That went into the refrigerator for the moment to chill. “We might be contacted by your father, anyway. Apparently your sister is upset at your intent to get in touch with us.”

Hayato’s eyes bugged out and he launched into another rant. It was cut short when Fon appeared out of nowhere and gave the boy a disappointed look. Hayato blushed and went back to sipping his juice.

“What are we having for lunch?” Fon asked quietly.

“Antipasto salad. Nobody claimed it, so…”

Fon nodded, then looked at Hayato. “As there is time yet before the meal, I shall teach you a bit about meditation.”

After a surprised expression had the chance to flit over Hayato’s face, he slid off his stool, drank the last of his juice and discarded the container, and obediently enough followed.

He exhaled slowly once they were out of hearing range. His memories of Hayato did not do this ten year old version justice, at all. On the other hand, this one wasn’t stuck on him and jealously sniping at everyone in range. Tsuna washed up and wandered back to his office to shuffle more paperwork around and check his investments.

Reborn left the next day, a box of sweets in hand. A letter came in from Colonnello, with potential times he could visit them. He would have to incorporate that into his planner, as well as times for him to go to Mafia Land.

Hayato very politely asked him, the next day, for a meeting, so after a moment of surprise he led the boy into his office, took his seat, then aimed a questioning look at the silveret.

“I would like training,” Hayato said simply.

Tsuna nodded. “Okay. Then consider the room you’re in yours for now. Assuming we’re able to get things nice and tidy, perhaps we can discuss some personalization. We would also be able to get you enrolled locally. I know that Arashi has started to work with you. He is not always here, as he takes on a fair amount of jobs, but I trust you will continue to do any exercises he gives you.”

Hayato nodded fervently.

Tsuna had no idea what his Storm had done, and didn’t want to know beyond the knowledge that Fon had been a kind master to I-Pin and—‘Oh. I-Pin. Something to look into, though I’ll be damned if I have a clue how.’ “Good,” he said. “I regularly work out, so you can join me if you like. Once we get things settled we can work out a proper schedule.”

Hayato smiled tentatively.

“Okay. I have work to do, so off you go.” When Daemon inevitably showed up later he told him it was a go. His Mist assured him he would work his magic with the Scorpione boss, so Tsuna got to work on seeing about Hayato’s enrollment at the local school. From what he remembered Hayato had tutors all his life, so sending him to an actual school was probably a good idea to get him interacting with people his own age.

Skull showed up near the time he would start making preparations for lunch, so he set the job reports aside for post-meal and caught up with his Cloud.

Skull scooted closer on the loveseat they were paired on and whispered, “Daemon messed with the kid’s head, right?”

“Yep. He won’t be saying anything to anyone about the little people or Arcobaleno, or anything we want kept private,” he said with a nod.

Skull latched onto him in a cozy hug, so they sat there for a bit comfortably.

“Reborn has done some hocus pocus on my laptop,” he confided in a whisper. “I can take it with me now and still get work done.”

“So he’s encrypted the hell out of it,” Skull whispered back.

Tsuna nodded. “So when I make my visits I won’t have to push the work off on one of you. Speaking of which, I’ve gotten into contact with Ame. Taiyo was very helpful there in getting him to admit to or confirm a few things. With any luck we’ll suit, and then we’ll be complete. I never expected it, but it’s like a slight ache, that missing bond. I think it was always there, but it wasn’t until now that I really noticed it in contrast to the bonds I have.”

“…I don’t envy you that feeling,” Skull replied. “I suppose I never thought about it, you know?”

Tsuna patted his Cloud’s hand. “It’s okay. It’s news to both of us.” ‘I wonder if Daemon meant this when he said a lone Sky is a painful thing. Or if that was simply his perspective as a guardian.’

Meeting with Colonnello was a bit of a chore, only because Mafia Land moved around. It took a lot more planning than simply driving north to visit with Reborn and Dino. Daemon was his escort the first time, but he was also the most rabid protector. No one had booked a training session during his visit, mainly because Colonnello hadn’t allowed anyone to.

So when they got to the area out back Colonnello looked at him with an odd expression, half hopeful and half skeptical, and asked if he would like to give the obstacle course a try. “Sure,” he chirped, then removed his jacket and allowed Daemon to take it. He also handed over anything he wouldn’t like to get lost, then nodded and ploughed on in.

He had a blast. When he emerged from the end, covered in mud he had not been able to dodge, he was laughing a bit breathlessly. “Kiri, you have to try it!” he enthused. “It’s fantastic!” He pretended to ignore the shocked cast to Colonnello’s expression as he bounced over to his Mist, little clots of mud shaking off and hitting the ground with a dull splut. When Daemon did not immediately seem all that inclined to have a go, he daringly and teasingly said, “C’mon, Kiri, get dirty.”

Daemon’s eyes gleamed in response. “Anything for you, love.” He set aside Tsuna’s things on the table out there, stripped off his own jacket and added a few things to the pile, then headed in.

Tsuna giggled madly, though he fully expected Daemon to come out of it looking pristine, even if only due to illusion. He wondered at times if Daemon saw him as the reincarnation of Elena, and not just so very like her, but he got on so well with the man that he refused to let the idea bother him. He turned to Colonnello and grinned. “I wonder if there’s enough room at the manor to put in something like this. It’s a bit hard to tell just how big that course really is.”

Colonnello blinked at him. “I can check, when I visit.”

He nodded sharply. “I would appreciate that. My normal routine is all very well, but that—” He glanced over. “That is absurdly fun. Is it your own design, or…?”

“…Mine.”

He nodded again. “Hopefully we have room, then. I can see it now, the First Annual Est Obstacle Run. Winner gets to choose the menu for the entire next week.” And that started them off on a discussion of cooking and food in general, which lasted through Daemon’s run. His Mist created a construct to carry their things back to the suite set aside for them, for Colonnello’s guests. They showered, got dressed, and joined Colonnello in his suite for lunch.

He gifted an entire box—two dozen—of his Flu-Fighter cookies to the Rain, and was gratified to see the man’s expression go a bit sappy. In all honesty, he was having trouble figuring out how to connect with the man. What memories he had were all connected to that scuffle with the Varia and how Colonnello had trained Ryohei. The man was a crack shot, good at training other people, but beyond that…

Reborn trusted him, even if they weren’t exactly friends, and he trusted Reborn, so he was inclined to trust Colonnello. But that didn’t involve his heart, just his head. That evening he asked Daemon his opinion.

“Well, you seemed genuinely enthusiastic about his obstacle course, and he seemed impressed by your enthusiasm. Perhaps you could bond over planning additional defenses for the manor? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with having a bit more. I suppose you could attempt to get him to open up about the woman in his life, though he might balk given that he thinks he knows your true age. It is harder, in that sense, because he does know certain truths.”

Tsuna nodded, the corners of his mouth twitching down. “That does make it harder. He’s not like Skull. I was uncertain and more childlike then.”

Daemon laughed. “You’re still childlike at times, Tsuna, but then, this body has never felt the effects of growing up, yes?”

His gaze drifted to the side. Daemon was right, of course. Physically, he was a child. He might be an adult mentally and emotionally, but that didn’t mean his body would cooperate. ‘So much for a love life,’ he thought moodily. ‘But Daemon seems…’ He shook his head. “Bonding over guns and obstacles and food.”

“And skill.”

The next day they were back at the course, and Tsuna asked Colonnello to explain how he’d designed the thing, walking through it with him. The course was a marvel of work, designed to test a number of things, the least of which was flame use. After all, the vast majority of mafiosi could not access them. They never got to play with the pretty lights. Probably just as well considering that too many people already couldn’t be trusted with conventional weapons.

He actually respected people like Reborn and Colonnello for their incredible skill with guns, just as he respected Fon for his dedication to training his body. “Do you think something like this could be constructed on multiple levels?” he asked.

“I suppose so,” Colonnello said slowly.

“I mean, do you love doing this? Training people?” he persisted.

“Well, yes.”

He nodded. “Is it an advantage or a disadvantage that this is all attached to a traveling island?” He could see that caused Colonnello to figuratively step back in thought. “I can see the appeal,” he added, “I suppose, for someone coming here for training, to also have the attractions to visit before or afterward, or for family members.”

“I don’t care about any of that,” Colonnello said. “I never visit any of it myself. I can see the appeal, too, but a stay at Mafia Land is expensive. The people who come to me for training are very wealthy, or very well connected. The Cavallone kid… His fee was slashed because Reborn’s his tutor.”

“And Reborn’s a legend here.” He well remembered those damn balloons. “I—ah… I just realized, I almost sound like I’m denigrating your work. I apologize.”

Colonnello gave him a wide-eyed look. “What? No. You’ve actually given me something to think about. I greatly enjoy training people, but because of how Mafia Land is set up, I don’t necessarily have to train a lot of people. On the other hand, being here means it’s a bit more difficult for the average person to get to me.”

“But don’t you also—I mean, aren’t you the one protecting this whole place?” he asked. He knew there were security forces, but Colonnello had single-handedly destroyed the Carcassa fleet—once he had woken up from his nap, anyway.

“I am the head of the security forces, but they are primarily responsible for keeping Mafia Land safe. I do train them, though, and ensure they don’t get lax. They run their own sessions, but I occasionally haul in groups to make sure.”

“You were military … Before?”

“Yeah, hilariously enough. I have a lot of good memories from those days,” Colonnello said, his voice getting softer.

Tsuna bit his lip to keep himself from bringing up Lal. He could pass off the knowledge to several sources, but he didn’t feel comfortable saying it. “Well, I like Mafia Land for what it offers. Certainly safer for us to be, um, less than adult here.”

Colonnello snorted softly. “Some people come here deliberately around the time of the annual invasion, just so they have an excuse to let loose.”

“What, like kids in a candy store with Daddy’s credit card?” he said, vaguely remembering all the mafiosi who had jumped at the chance to proclaim Mafia Land “boring” and whip out guns to combat the invasion forces.

Laughter greeted that comment and a grin was aimed his way. “Aren’t all men little kids at heart?”


	9. 09: 2011-2012

“So, how’s it going?”

Tsuna eyed Dino’s efforts as he battled against his guardians. Brutus, a Cloud, and Brizio, a Mist, had completed the blond’s bonds. “Well enough, I suppose,” he said, “though I’m having issues with… Well, he’s ex-military, and…”

Reborn nodded. “It’s always been something of a point of contention. It’s not all that different in the end to how Skull wasn’t mafia.”

He leaned into his Sun. “You might not want to hear it, but I’m really happy you seem to be getting on with Skull. I mean, he was one of my first real friends.”

Reborn wrapped an arm around him. “I was an arrogant asshole, Sora. So damn sure of myself. So easily taken in by those promises of challenge and wealth. And to find out that one of the chosen seven was some silly stuntman?” He half-shrugged. “I’m not proud of it. And I realized, after we harmonized, that anyone who could mean so much to you must be an upright guy, even if I might never be the best of friends with him.”

Tsuna pressed closer, smiling softly when he felt Reborn kiss his head. He twitched when a gun was fired and Reborn barked out, “This isn’t a dance recital, ladies! Though you should know how to do that, too!”

Tsuna sniggered. “Right. You teaching them that, and shooting when they step on their partner’s toes?”

“Perhaps. If nothing else, it would be another fine way to mess with their heads.”

“Just a thought,” he said musingly. “Is this your way of instilling a healthy amount of paranoia and suspicion?”

“Might be,” Reborn replied lazily.

“And this is your room,” Tsuna said, waving a hand around. “A nice soothing blue. Well, I think it’s soothing.”

“It’s very nice,” he said agreeably as he set down his bag.

Tsuna bounced a few times. “Let’s go check out the back!”

He was hustled off by an excited Sky and was shortly outside, standing on a deck. Land stretched out before him, partly tamed, partly a wild profusion of flowers and other plants. There was a line of old-growth trees delineating the boundaries of the property, as well. All in all, it was more than enough room to create a proper obstacle course if that’s what his Sky really wanted.

He had given a lot of thought to what Tsuna had said and realized he was stuck in a rut. He’d spent years at Mafia Land, doing the same old same old, with little hope to buoy him. They were all going through the motions, in a way. But his prior military training had kept him from realizing what he was doing.

On top of that, his relationship with Lal had stalled to the point of a serious nose dive from thirty thousand feet after engine failure struck and with a pilot too inexperienced to recover. Except for the part where it just hung there, in limbo. There was a reason he had not chosen to follow her and join CEDEF.

He was glad for that now, standing next to a vibrant Sky Arcobaleno, one untainted by the weight of years rolling by. The little guy made the world seem brighter and more a place of hope. If they harmonized? He could see himself doing information gathering, sure. He could see himself maybe opening a new training facility, one that could handle the less wealthy, and would still allow him to be home every night.

Yes, it would be, in some respects, more of the same, but it would be a conscious choice, a deliberate decision, and not a holding pattern. And he would have a home. He looked at Tsuna and saw such resolve and so much joy. It was almost unnatural. Or maybe he was just that jaded.

“Hey, hey,” Tsuna said. “Wait, I need to stop doing that when I’m not in disguise.” He shook his head. “You never said what you’d like for dinner.”

“Oh, uh… Veal piccata?”

“Okay.” Tsuna gave him a sweet smile. “While you’re getting settled in your rooms I’ll hit the grocers.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

Tsuna smiled again. “It’s fine. Kiri or Kaminari usually go, simply because they’re tall. Even so, they’re kind of used to seeing me shop by now. Most of them are somehow of the opinion that I’m a very sweet and reliable little boy who helps his mummy with errands.”

He snickered after a moment. “And would Kiri have happened to plant that idea in certain heads?” His Sky adopted a wholly innocent look of confusion, which caused him to start snickering again. “Right. I’m going to unpack, then.”

They parted ways and he returned to the suite set aside for him. His few changes of clothing went into the dresser, but as he was closing a drawer he stopped and stared. Why was everything he owned still based off the COMSUBIN uniform? He was no longer military and hadn’t been for a long time. Lal didn’t even dress that way. “I am a blind old fool,” he whispered.

He needed to change, for his own sake, not just endlessly walk on that treadmill and zone out so hard he couldn’t recognize what a mess he was. He shut the drawer and turned away so he could ferry his kit bag to the bathroom and set a few things out.

Colonnello wandered back downstairs and saw—‘Fon?’

His fellow Arcobaleno looked up with a serene smile and nodded a greeting.

His brow went up as the obvious smacked him upside the head. Fon had harmonized with Tsuna already. His Sky already had a Mist and Lightning who were not Arcobaleno, so Viper and Verde were out, but it meant Skull was a possibility, if not already a reality. “Yo.”

“How are you finding the manor?” Fon asked.

“I like it,” he said. “It’s got personality. It’s not one of those stuck-up places trying so hard to look impressive that it’s cold and impersonal. You know what I mean. You walk in and you’re afraid to breathe too hard for fear of breaking some priceless, thousand year old vase or something.”

Fon’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “Yes. We had a meeting when this place was purchased, to decide how to decorate, and what amenities to include. Claimed rooms were decided on individually.”

“So you went with a girly pink instead of a manly red?” he teased.

Fon’s habitual smile widened. “I take it that Tsuna is off getting groceries?”

He nodded. “Asked me what I wanted for dinner, then off he went.”

“He does that. If someone is visiting, they get to choose dinner that first night. But there’s a schedule up and we can claim meals, so long as we don’t get greedy. We always get to claim our birthdays.”

In point of fact, he vaguely recalled something to that effect during their discussion at Mafia Land. “So he really does cook all the meals?”

“Yes.” Fon moved closer and lowered his voice. “And we all feel spoiled rotten with love because of it. He takes very good care of us.” He moved away a moment later and smoothly turned to say to an arriving Tsuna, “I left my reports on your desk, Sora.”

In response, Tsuna tapped the side of the bag he was holding and said, “I got the stuff to make pineapple tarts.”

Colonnello watched in amazement as Fon practically floated over to their Sky. Just how good was this kid to be able to win the hearts of people like Fon and Reborn? ‘Ah, hell, admit it, you old fool. You’re already half under his spell yourself. He’s the first person to make you wake the fuck up in decades and take a good look around.’ He absently joined the group headed to the kitchen and hopped up onto one of the bar-style chairs that fronted the island.

Tsuna was chatting away with Fon and Kiri as things were put away and drinks were secured, though another one was quickly produced when a stranger to Colonnello sauntered in. He was young, had messy “I just rolled out of bed” black hair, blue eyes, and a lazy smile.

“Kaminari,” Tsuna said, “this is Colonnello, presently a high mucky-muck over at Mafia Land.”

‘High mucky-muck?’ he thought, then nodded to the young man. “Yo.”

Kaminari flashed a victory sign at him. “A pleasure to meet you. Sora was telling me earlier all about that obstacle course you have charge of. It sounds wonderful, though I might not have said that a ways back.”

“Oh?”

“When I first started training seriously Sora could wipe the floor with me in seconds.”

“Still can,” Tsuna muttered.

“It was very humbling,” Kaminari said as if everyone hadn’t heard that. “But I’ve come to quite enjoy the sparring we all do, and it really helps me with my flames.”

The sound of rapid footsteps sounded out in the hall, and Tsuna called out, “Hayato! What have I said about running in the house?”

Colonnello looked toward the door and saw a silver-haired boy peek around the frame, then edge into the room.

“I’m sorry,” the boy said quietly, then he erupted with, “But can you blame me? It’s like the floors are just begging for people to slide on them! I was just getting up a good speed, too.”

Tsuna sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fon…”

Fon nodded. “I’ll beat some sense into him later,” he said as the boy took off hastily.

“Hayato…” Tsuna looked indecisive for a moment. “I won’t say why he contacted us, but I will say he’s in our custody now. Aside from attending school like any other boy, he’s being trained to eventually become an agent.”

He nodded.

“Maybe I should buy a Slip’N Slide for him?” Tsuna said, pressing a finger against his lower lip.

“In any case,” Kaminari said, “I left my reports on your desk.”

Tsuna nodded. “I’ll go over them shortly, along with Fon’s.”

Kaminari looked at Colonnello, then Fon. “Spar?”

They parted ways with their Sky. He followed the two men to a training room and was shown the changing area and showers. There were plenty of Arcobaleno-sized uniforms, so getting outfitted was no trouble.

Fon and Kaminari—Romeo, as he had been informed by the man himself—faced off first. He continued to stretch lightly as he watched, impressed by what he was seeing. While it was true that Romeo had a ways to go, he was giving his best to the effort and Fon was likewise keeping up a steady commentary of issues to be addressed.

Colonnello was further impressed when Romeo managed to create a quarterstaff formed from Lightning Flames. He used it mostly in a defensive manner, though he was learning to fashion blades at the ends for something a bit more messy. As it was, the staff was intended to shock people, literally. That particular aspect would be less likely to properly affect another Lightning, but the odds were in favor against it, assuming another Lightning had someone they also were protecting.

‘Maybe I can teach him about traps,’ he thought. He had no idea if any of the guardians were well versed in those. Kiri might be, but he was a Mist, and his idea of traps would be less than physical in nature.

He went up against Fon next and had a grand time. Romeo was watching avidly even as he went through a series of cool-down stretches. He was smiling broadly by the time they concluded their spar. “That was great,” he said happily as they began their cool down. “I never get to test myself properly, normally.”

“Well, we spar with fair frequency here,” Fon said, “though it depends on who is around.”

A glance at the clock embedded into one wall showed it was nearing dinner time, and not terribly long later they were cleaned up and arrayed in the kitchen, watching Tsuna handle the end stages of dinner preparation. Fon and Romeo took care of getting the table set.

“Skull will be here,” Tsuna said absently as Romeo went to get plates from the cupboard.

Indeed, the Cloud Arcobaleno—buzzed, was the word that came to mind—into the room, gave Tsuna a fierce hug, then claimed a seat at the table. “Oh, ciao, Colonnello,” the purple-haired man said cheerfully.

“Yo.” Since when was Skull so damn cheerful and openly affectionate? “Reborn still tutoring that kid?” he asked no one in particular.

Kiri nodded. “For now. But not much longer, we expect.”

“He said he’d get them up to speed by the time the young master was twenty,” Tsuna said, then, “Have at it, guys.”

Colonnello was amazed at how good dinner tasted, and he didn’t even particularly care for veal piccata. He had just said the first thing that came to mind. Dessert featured pineapple tarts, some Chinese thing that had Fon glowing with pleasure. They weren’t half bad, either.

He ended up bonding with Skull a bit that evening by playing video games and trading mock insults about each other’s performance, with Tsuna egging them on from his position on Kiri’s lap. He also came to the conclusion that Kiri had a very creepy laugh. But then again, the man was a Mist, and plenty of those were a bit on the insane side—perhaps it was the illusions they worked with doing a number on their brains.

The next morning after breakfast he spent time with Tsuna helping him to sort through paperwork, mainly so he could get an idea of what Welkin did and how he might possibly fit into things. After all, Tsuna was not a “normal” Sky, and he wasn’t heading up a huge famiglia or anything. His guardians were still proper guardians, but considering the nature of the business Tsuna had conceived of and made a reality, the necessity of actually guarding their Sky was not an onus. ‘Not that it would be, anyway,’ he thought. ‘But they’ve been clever in keeping attention away from themselves. Nobody sees Welkin Est in person, apparently.’

“The Cavallone Nono has.”

He looked sharply toward the voice to see Kiri smirking at him.

Tsuna rolled his eyes. “He has a habit of doing that. Pay it no mind.” He picked up several folders and offered them to the Mist.

“It’s more than a little creepy,” he commented.

Kiri looked up from his reading and smirked again. “And here I was under the impression that Mists were required to be creepy.”

Tsuna snorted. “You’re adorably creepy.”

Kiri looked smug for a moment, then went back to reading the material he’d been given.

Colonnello, for his part, tried not to think too loudly.

“I think I could fit through some of the vents.”

Tsuna nodded. “Quite possibly, yes. What if they had metal mesh inside? Or cameras?”

“People actually do that?”

He shrugged. “Not having squirmed through any vents recently, I don’t know. But it’s possible. Small animals have been known to use such conduits, so it’s reasonable to assume there might be methods in place to prevent egress.”

Hayato frowned.

“I know of one place… It was winter, plenty of snow. Raccoons got into the duct work under a house, for the heating system. Made a nest because it was warm. Frightened the people living there with the noises they made.”

“Um…”

Tsuna let the boy think for a bit longer, then said, “You most likely have Storm Flames, so…”

“Oh!” Hayato looked up. “If there was mesh, I could in theory disintegrate any. Maybe the wiring for the cameras, though I guess that might clue people in that something was off.”

He nodded. “Now you’re thinking. But that’s enough for now. Go get your homework taken care of.”

Hayato slid off his chair and dashed out of the office.

Tsuna sighed quietly. In theory, training Hayato to be an information specialist was safer than being an average mafioso, right? And he would have a better home life with them. He already did! Hayato was not being poisoned on a regular basis by his own blood. ‘Come to think of it, I’m a bit surprised Bianchi hasn’t been sniffing around the area already. But she is obsessed with Reborn, so… Doubt she could find us any more easily than anyone else given Daemon’s protections. At least once Reborn joins us he should be free from her.’

Would it be better to coax flames out of the boy now, or wait until later? It was gamble waiting until Hayato hit puberty, after all. Things were hard enough when every passing cute thing carbonated your hormones, so was it not a bad idea to add supernatural abilities to the mix? Perhaps teaching him earlier on, in conjunction with Fon’s meditation, would smooth the way later?

He made a note to ask Daemon about getting a Storm ring.

“We’re going where?” he asked.

“A laser tag facility,” Tsuna replied. “I don’t have much experience with a gun, but this is for fun, so… And you and Reborn are good with them.”

They piled into a car and Romeo drove them to the facility. Romeo got them all their equipment and they trooped off to one of the arenas to play after they geared up, though a number of adjustments had to be made considering how small most of them were.

Colonnello politely refrained from laughing at just how bad their Sky’s aim was.

“Hey,” Tsuna protested after the first round was over, “this isn’t like my usual weapons. The aiming is all different!”

Reborn snorted softly. “We can fix that, you know.”

Their Sky’s eyes went wide, then he laughed nervously. “I’ve seen your training methods. Not sure I want to subject myself to that.”

Rich laughter spilled out of Reborn in response, and an arm was wrapped around Tsuna’s shoulders to pull him close. “I would never be quite that demanding, Sora.”

“Forgive me if that doesn’t entirely soothe my nerves.”

“You seem oddly good at spotting us, though,” he observed.

Tsuna smiled sweetly—and mysteriously, somehow.

“Come on,” Romeo said. “Time for another round.”

It was during round five that things got weird. Colonnello noticed a bunch of young men stumble into their arena—which should not have happened—and immediately start jeering. They were drunk, if the stench of cheap liquor meant anything. They sounded a bit like braying donkeys in his opinion, but he bristled in indignation when they targeted Tsuna, not only with words, but by trying to aim the lasers from their guns into his eyes. His Sky easily avoided the attack, but for some reason they persisted. Was it the generally kind eyes and sweet expression? The obviously foreign features?

Romeo, being the only “adult” of their group, attempted to talk them into exiting the arena in his lazy and relatively nonconfrontational way, trying to redirect their attention away from their target and onto him.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. They were too drunk and too belligerent and, frankly, too stupid. One of them reached behind him to pull a real gun out of the back of his trousers and promptly hit the floor when Colonnello shot him in the leg.

“Wow, you actually use guns that aren’t anti-tank weaponry?” Reborn said, then shot one of the others when they also went to pull a gun.

Tsuna, off to one side, sighed and shook his head. “I swear, this is why we can’t go do fun things.”

He sent a disbelieving look at his Sky. “But this is fun,” he protested, then shot a third.

Tsuna swore a blue streak in Japanese as he dropped his laser gun and summoned up kunai, then started flinging them with disturbing accuracy.

Thirty seconds later the drunks were all down, some bleeding, and they had vacated the arena and jammed the door behind them. Romeo gathered up all the equipment and dumped it off at the desk, and they piled back into the car.

“Well this sucks,” Tsuna said grumpily. “But at least we got a few rounds in before it went weird.”

“You were really good,” he complimented. He was impressed with just how blithely ruthless his Sky could be when the situation called for it.

“Oh? Well, thank you. I do practice a fair amount.” Tsuna whipped out his phone and sent off a text message. He tucked it away and said, “How about pizza? I’m in the mood for pizza.”

Reborn looked at their Sky with hopeful eyes.

“Yes, I meant with me making it,” Tsuna said promptly.

It was so strange seeing Reborn act that way. He wanted to act that way, too. He wanted to harmonize with their Sky, to feel that bond in his heart, to—Tsuna’s head snapped around to look at him with wide eyes as warmth blossomed inside him. His hand went up to press against his chest in wonder.

“I still want pizza,” Reborn said huffily. “Harmonization is no reason to skip out on the pizza.”

Tsuna giggled and nodded. “Of course, Taiyo.”

“Welcome aboard, you old fool,” Reborn said to him with a smirk. “It won’t be long after you move in that I do, too.”

Tsuna took his hand, causing his heart to squee like a young girl, and said, “I wish it could be sooner, but you did say twenty for the young master.”

“Why do you call him that, anyway?” Romeo asked.

“Um…”

A sideways look revealed a slightly confused look on his Sky’s face.

“You know, I’m not sure. He’s not the Cavallone boss yet, so… Maybe I picked it up from Romario? Anyway, grocers, please.”

“You got it, boss man.”

Unfortunately for his liking, the remainder of his visit was far too short, and he was soon enough back at Mafia Land, dealing with the usual grind. He was therefore more than a little startled when his door banged open and Lal marched in, slamming it behind her. “Ciao,” he said simply.

“What the hell are you thinking?” she demanded. “This is so incredibly immature of you!”

“I’m well, thank you for asking. You?”

She scowled at him and sat down primly. “I was fine, until I heard you decided _not_ to renew your contract here.”

He nodded, wondering why she cared so much about that. ‘Actually, who the hell squealed? I will train them until they beg for mummy.’

“Well?” she demanded.

“…I’m a little lost here. Why does it matter?”

She scowled again. “You have a good job here, steady work. Why give that up?”

“Um… Nope. Still not hearing why it matters to you.”

Lal visibly reined in her temper and said, “Where will you go? Were you planning to talk to Iemitsu?”

He blinked at her and shook his head. “No, no I wasn’t. I have something lined up already, of course. I’m tired of this place and this job. It’s time for a change. Still not seeing why it matters. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love you, very much, but given the nature of things we barely see each other, and when we do? It’s just another reminder of everything we can’t have. There’s a reason I didn’t follow you to CEDEF back then.”

A hurt look flashed through her eyes, but she nodded. “I know. That’s why I never protested it at the time. Will you at least give me some idea where you’re going?”

“Around Naples,” he said vaguely.

“You’re going to work for Gesso?” she asked in surprise.

“Didn’t say that, just said around Naples. I have things to finalize before I can provide any details. It’s all aboveboard. Well, as much as anything can be in the mafia. I need a change. I’ve been stuck in this rut for so long I’m surprised there wasn’t moss growing on me. You know what I mean, Lal. I’m the hamster and Mafia Land is the wheel.”

She nodded slowly.

“Besides, I’ll be able to visit more easily.” ‘And see just how good I am at not ripping Iemitsu’s throat out while I do.’ He honestly didn’t see why she’d flipped out. He had a ton of money banked, so it wasn’t as though he would be hurting financially. She couldn’t possibly be concerned about his safety—right? Because if she was, he would have to consider feeling rather insulted. The woman had personally trained him, for fuck’s sake.

She nodded again, looking a bit less angry. “True. And I could visit you more easily.” When he did not immediately leap to agree the anger ramped up again. “What?” she said accusingly.

‘I’ll just have to get a place in Naples?’ he thought, then nodded to himself. “Just wondering where a good spot would be. You know, near good places. Somehow I’m not seeing us hanging out at the local park and playing in the sand pit.” There was just no way he would even consider asking Tsuna to get her under an NDA. She was too close to that man, and as much as Iemitsu liked to act the fool he was incredibly sharp. Besides, she probably wouldn’t sign one anyway, not if it might possibly conflict with CEDEF whatsihoosits.

She sniffed. “Gesso may try to recruit you.”

“They can try,” he drawled.

“Not sure if I trust them,” she continued as if she hadn’t heard, or hadn’t cared to. “I’ve heard some things about the Gesso heir that concern me. People are wondering if he’s a little … off.”

His brow went up. Byakuran had struck him as being certifiable, actually, not “off”. But he was a close and trusted friend of Tsuna’s, so he would give the young man a proper chance. “Doesn’t matter. They can try if they like, but I’m not biting if they do.”

She let out a strangled sound that may or may not have been a frustrated sigh.

He shook his head minutely and decided to change the subject. In fact, Tsuna had given him a huge box of baked goods as a care package before he left. He wondered if Lal was just as susceptible to their effect as the rest of them.

“Wow, they’ve really improved,” he said admiringly.

Reborn adopted a smug look and nodded. “I’m good.”

Tsuna giggled and gave him a peck on the cheek. “They’re like a well-oiled team now. Kiri has been messing with the—well, he calls it warding—around our place, so that anyone we care about can come visit, but people following them will get their memories messed with and sent off on a wild goose chase.”

Reborn eyed him for a moment, then returned to watching Dino’s group. “So this lot could come visit, in theory, and not arouse too much attention.”

“Yep. Kiri tested it on a dodgy warehouse property we ‘borrowed’ for a bit. I think he got the idea from those Harry Potter books and muggle-repelling charms. So the young master could come visit, still get to see you…”

“He is surprisingly fond of me,” Reborn admitted, “despite the hell I put him through.”

He made a rude noise. “Don’t be silly. You’re a foundation stone, Taiyo. You’ve been pounding it into his head from the beginning that he’s capable and have never given him a chance to really make excuses. He looks up to you. So what if he’s a bit nervous when you’re around? It just gives him incentive to not get blown up again.”

Reborn hummed. “Well, it’s not like we don’t have room to host this lot for a visit. In any case, Dino has mostly taken on the Cavallone reins. Nono is just waiting until he’s twenty to officially hand them over.”

He nodded, then materialized a single kunai and flung it into the mayhem. Dino’s whip lashed out to wrap around it and release it to the side, making Tsuna grin. “Very nice.”

Ten minutes later Dino came over and wrinkled his nose at Tsuna. “What was that?”

“Just seeing how good you really are,” he said lightly. “I’m very impressed.”

Dino blushed.

“Go get cleaned up,” Reborn said. “Lunch in my suite.”

The two of them snuggled on the loveseat in Reborn’s sitting room while they waited, though Daemon popped up out of nowhere and bundled them onto his lap. Tsuna just hummed; he had two loved ones to snuggle with!

Dino fumbled his way in a bit later, his men in tow, and they all made an attempt to sit at the table in an orderly fashion, carefully not noticing when Dino tripped on thin air again. “Oh, there you are,” Dino said, finally spotting them on the loveseat as a servant unloaded a cart of its burden.

Daemon gracefully rose and made something of a mockery of the blond’s general skills at locomotion when he glided to the table and popped Reborn and Tsuna into chairs, then took one for himself. They were having lasagne, apparently.

Tsuna pulsed the food out of habit before picking up his cutlery.

It was not until the servant had hastened away with the cart and closed the door that Dino gave Tsuna a sad look and said, “So, you’re going to take Reborn away soon-ish, aren’t you.”

“Why do you say that?” he replied, then popped a forkful of yumminess into his mouth.

“It was a huge clue when he said I’d be ready soon and would have to fly the nest.”

“I’m not taking him away, silly, you’re going to graduate soon. You’ll become a boss in your own right and show everyone just how well trained you are. Besides, can you really blame either of us for wanting to live in the same place?”

Dino looked a little shamefaced at that. “No,” he admitted.

Tsuna smiled. “You’ll be able to visit, you know. We like our privacy, but we also like you.”

Dino sent a nervous look Reborn’s way, then nodded. “And I know what’ll happen if word gets out.”

Reborn smiled dangerously and stabbed his fork into his lasagne before cutting into it. Some of the rich, red sauce oozed out the side, causing Dino to start twitching.

January brought about two things. Colonnello moved into the house and started taking on jobs while also looking for a fake home in Naples and a place where he could potentially start up a training facility. He still wasn’t sure about that. Daemon not only tracked Fūta down, but was able to quietly let him know that the boy’s ranking power had kicked in. Several spies would be nearby at all times, just in case.

February brought Reborn to the house properly. He started doing a mixture of Welkin jobs and hits. Never anything that took too much time, though. Both he and Colonnello had been feeling the strain of being away from their Sky for so long, and preferred to stick around as much as possible until things smoothed out and they didn’t feel quite so twitchy.

It was in April when Daemon wandered in for dinner with that blank look Tsuna loathed. He groaned softly.

Daemon nodded as he took a seat. “Massimo drowned.”

Tsuna stared, then started swearing under his breath about the general incompetence of Vongola. Thank heaven Hayato was sleeping over at a friend’s house that evening.

“One step closer to them looking for you again,” Romeo said quietly. “I need to get better.”

He smiled warmly at his Lightning. Oh, he had plans. He and Daemon had discussed the very possibility, and with Massimo’s death it was time to make sure, if it came to it, that Romeo could wipe the fucking floor with Levi. They had gone over the original Varia event with a figurative microscope, picking at every thread and plot and plan they could see Xanxus had devised.

Romeo would find himself being electrocuted a lot in the near future, for one thing. Daemon’s spies would be keeping an eye on the principle Varia members just to see what kinds of tricks they had up their sleeves. No sense getting cocky and ending up in a Scramble Battle with no clue what might be different. Levi could turn out to be competent this time.

‘That reminds me, I need to have it firmly impressed on young Hayato that a battle is no place to start monologuing,’ he thought. ‘I’ll check with Fon later to made sure the kid isn’t developing any bad habits.’

Daemon shook his head slightly.

‘Okay, he’s good, then. But that begs the question, if I have to be found, where would I be? If a Scramble Battle happened, where would that be?’ He munched on some buttery bread and considered. “If it comes to that,” he said slowly, “and they try to find me … where would I be? Because if they find me, it’s going to—”

“You don’t have to appear the way you are,” Daemon interrupted. “And no, I don’t mean that bizarre little option you have.”

Half the eyes at the table aimed his way. He smiled nervously. “I can appear as my real age if I want to, but it cuts time off the end.”

His Arcobaleno guardians all frowned and started shaking their heads. “Not a chance in hell,” Reborn said to him, then eyed Daemon. “Considering that I’m practically immune to illusion and you can still get past my guard, I have to assume you can fuck anyone up, even Viper.”

Daemon smirked and nodded, then his eyes flicked toward Tsuna, who had watched as his hands and wrists and arms had puffed out to normal size between one heartbeat and the next. He frowned, because he did not understand how it worked. He was even viewing things from a different perspective.

“Okay, that’s weird. Make it stop, please.” A second later he was himself. He shuddered and stabbed a carrot. “I didn’t like that. It felt like a tease.”

Daemon nodded. “Then, in the event, we have to come up with some kind of plan. I, for one, would prefer not to be caught out flat-footed.”

“I really need to get better,” Romeo repeated.

“We’ll help you, don’t worry,” Reborn said. “You might not like it, but…”

That was enough to get Tsuna giggling again.

“Yeah, I know,” Romeo said. “I did go on a few of those trips north, after all. I’m well aware of just how much of a sadist you can be.”

Reborn smiled, showing far too many teeth. “Oh. Your words are like a pillow of heaven against my head.”

Romeo rolled his eyes and went back to eating.

‘Well, at least they all get along for the most part,’ he thought happily, then stared at Daemon while thinking, ‘Can you fake Sky Flames?’ He got an uncertain look. ‘Because I know you can manage Earth Flames. Just a thought, just in case, for misdirection purposes.’

‘We’ll discuss a few particulars when we’re alone,’ was flashed over his plate.

“The worst case scenario is that Federico gets offed and they come look for me,” he reiterated. “But there is also the issue of Xanxus. He’s on ice right now, but if it came down to that, I have to wonder if the Varia wouldn’t do their damnedest to figure out a way to free him so he could make a claim.”

“I’m having a hard time seeing the Vongola Nono acknowledging it,” Colonnello said, “not after what he did.”

“Perhaps. But consider that there are probably plenty of people in the famiglia who would choose him over a ten year old. Or however old I’d be. And try to create a lot of pressure.”

“And on top of that,” Skull said, “I have to wonder just what that man would do. The long lost son found?” He shrugged. “They’ve not found anything in five plus years already. Would they contact someone outside, but trustworthy, to do the search?”

Tsuna’s eyes widened as he looked first at Colonnello, then Reborn. Then he started laughing so hard he almost fell off his chair. The only thing that saved him was a construct popping up to steady him. The very thought of that man contacting Colonnello through Lal had him in hysterics, and he could certainly see, after Reborn’s work with one of the higher-up families in the alliance, the Vongola Nono considering asking him to do some work tracking down the missing heir.

He distantly realized that Daemon was imparting his thoughts to the others on his behalf, but was still having trouble breathing after laughing so damn hard. Romeo picked him up and held him close for a moment, then set him back down and offered him his drink. A sip of wine helped settle him and he gave Romeo a grateful nod.

“Okay,” Skull said chirpily, “now that our Sky has stopped laughing like a loon, let’s discuss this.”

“I think it’s a bit of long shot that Vongola would contact me,” Reborn said, “but I can see your reasoning. I have never failed, and that might tip the balance.”

“They might go for both of us,” Colonnello said, “a two-pronged approach. But I can’t really see us being anywhere but Italy. I mean, sure, we could go to Japan, since that’s where Tsuna is from, but… Do you want a base over there?”

He grimaced. “A part of me says yes, but… If it happens, if we’re here, we’re a lot more accessible. But on the other hand, there was always the possibility that Estraneo did manage to find me and haul me to Italy, but screwed up and I was taken from them or escaped or whatever.”

“What, like Dolce stumbled over you?” Romeo asked.

“That would be a possibility, depending on what he thinks of the idea,” he replied, nodding. “He’s crazy enough that it might well appeal to him, and he has plenty of weight behind him. Gesso is not exactly small, and they’re neutral, so it’s not like they look to Vongola, nor can they be accused of subverting a Vongola heir.”

“And that’s assuming Byakuran even knew who you were,” Reborn pointed out.

He nodded, then furrowed his brow at Daemon.

“No, I can’t.”

He nodded again. The memory transfer must have offered his white-haired friend protection, of a sort, so any strong Mist trying to get into his head would gain only frustration from the attempt. He suspected the only reason Daemon could read his thoughts was because of the transfer, which seemed contradictory. But then, the other Daemon had probably stalked him creepily for years and knew things Tsuna couldn’t even remember. When you knew someone that well, you could also predict things with a fair degree of accuracy. But after the bond?

“Something like that.”

He snorted in amusement and shook his head. “Okay, you adorably creepy bastard. We’ll have to talk to Byakuran to see if he’s willing to play along. I would like all of you to consider ways to ‘explain’ how I ended up in this manor, with a business, or if we can gloss right over that based on the protections we enjoy. If either of them do get in contact, we have to consider how to misdirect them so that Vongola doesn’t descend on us en masse.”

Reborn snorted. “Well, considering what a shit job they seem to be doing when it comes to their heirs, do you really think I’d spill a location if they hired me and I ‘found’ you?”

Tsuna grinned. “Now that you mention it… I know, not everyone is lucky to have such amazing guardians, but really now. Do my ‘cousins’ really have such…” He shrugged, unable to put it into words.

“If you consider Xanxus,” Daemon said, “I would say yes. He strutted around Vongola like a king and no one stopped him. Not his brothers, not Nono, no one. He treated underlings like trash. The other three were better, but I think they were a little too cocky about their status, their family, and may not have been capable of creating the bonds you have. They never knew suffering.”

He looked down for a moment, his mouth twisting. Daemon had given him new insight into Reborn’s teaching methods, probably without even meaning to. Dino’s people from Before absolutely adored him, but Dino understood suffering, and not just because of Reborn’s sadistic tendencies. With an ailing father he loved dearly and a mother long since gone, Dino did not take things for granted. He wondered if Dino’s immediate acceptance of him was borne of the recognition of that same suffering, of being Reborn’s student, but also for the missing parent. When this Dino came to visit, he intended to spend a lot of time with him, his once and maybe brother.

“To drop another bomb into the mix,” Daemon said, “a reminder that yet another Sawada will be born shortly. That being so, we’re up to three potential Skies. Even if Tsuna is tapped for Decimo, we have leverage to make it a relatively short tenure. No one gets into Tsuna’s head but me, so there’s no fear of some other Mist scrambling his brains. And all of us are exceptional. On top of that, no one tells an Arcobaleno what to do.”

“Unless Sora bribes us with food,” Skull stage whispered.

Tsuna laughed. “Somehow I don’t think that would work against Viper or Verde.”

“You never know,” Fon said. “It would be amusing to spy on one of them if they ate something you cooked. But let’s not tempt fate. I’m still irate over those assassins. Viper likes strawberry milk, though, for reference.”

Tsuna giggled quietly to himself. Everybody knew that chocolate milk was superior! Though for some strange reason, he found himself wondering what pineapple milk would taste like. Or raspberry.

“For all we know, Cavallone Nono will talk up Welkin and they’ll contact the business,” Fon said. “But we’re agreed, yes? We’ll all start thinking of plans and stories. We can meet again later on this issue to share. And of course, we will run Romeo into the ground.”

Later that night he snuggled with Daemon in a chair in his reading nook. Byakuran was in the other one. Daemon had already thrown up a layer of protection around them so that no well-meaning guardians could listen in.

Byakuran laughed merrily when the idea was explained to him. He nodded and said, “Sure! I can come up with something believable. And you’re right, I have plenty of protection. And it’s not like anyone knows who really owns this place. We could pretend I do, and it was something I arranged to ensure the safety of the little Sky I found and wrested away from those evil Estraneo. If it comes down to it, Daemon here can fake a bunch of same-age guardians and you, even, in a different location, purely for the benefit of any Vongola attempting to spy.”

“All right, so we scout out a secondary location,” Daemon said. “Set it up with the usual protections, seemingly. I’ll do the same thing I did here, but with a slightly different focus. Anyone going past it, looking at it, would be convinced of the lie, that it’s been that way for years.”

“And tutors,” Tsuna said. “We could screw with the local school system to invent this bunch, but it’s easier to just invent a tutor or two, people who live there and keep an eye on these kids. One of them can be some Japanese fellow you imported. Might help to explain how all my guardians can speak Japanese and I can speak Italian.”

“Nice,” Byakuran said admiringly.

“And back to earlier, my adorably creepy Mist, you can manage a whole lot of flame types with the right rings, so why not Sky, or at least a credible fake?”

Daemon started laughing. “If,” he said. “If Reborn is contacted by Nono. If Colonnello is contacted by CEDEF. Who is to say they aren’t both tutors. Or one brings in the other? Both Reborn and Colonnello can imbue bullets with their power. Colonnello used one to teach Ryohei about Dying Will Flames, and we all know what Reborn is capable of, with Leon’s help.”

“And that gives us an excuse for Arcobaleno presence. I already use nicknames, so if it did come to that, and Reborn or Colonnello or both were ‘tutoring’ me, they could be reporting about Taiyo and Ame and never once mention real names.”

Byakuran grinned and nodded. “Mind you, I was too young at the time to worry about the finer details. And it’s not like anyone would have mentioned to me about the missing Vongola child. After all, you were kept a secret. They would not have advertised your disappearance, and they didn’t. I have every excuse for not knowing who you really were, should anyone ask. I simply saved and befriended a fellow Sky, and ensured his safety. I was, what, seven or eight, at the time? My father dotes on me, naturally, and gladly pushed through my little clubhouse.”

Tsuna snickered. He had never actually bothered to ask about the details, but it was interesting to see how his friend spun the story.

“This also ties into a possible Varia scenario,” Daemon said. “If it happens, and they send spies, they’re going to get entirely the wrong information, whereas we will know their every move.”

“Okay. Hopefully all this planning is for nothing, but… I’ll start looking for an alternate location. Daemon, maybe you can coordinate with Colonnello about some obfuscating wards at the place he got to misdirect Lal with. Something … delicate.”

“I can be very subtle, love,” Daemon assured him.

“Oh my,” Byakuran said teasingly. “Is this romance I scent in the air?”

Tsuna rolled his eyes. “Dolce, the only two people in the world I could possibly feel comfortable loving that way due to secrecy issues would be you or Daemon. Forgive me if you don’t rate on quite the same scale.”

Byakuran gasped in mock dismay, then touched a hand to his forehead. “I shall never recover from this blow.”

“And in any case, as is extremely evident, my body is incapable of manufacturing the right chemicals or whatever. My love is chaste, dear one.”

Byakuran stuck out his tongue. “Fine. Won’t stop me from shipping you two.”

Daemon planted a kiss on Tsuna’s head in response.

Reborn was walking down the hall when he heard an impassioned, “Son of a horker!” In English, no less. He ducked into Tsuna’s office and observed for a moment. His Sky was frowning at his computer in concentration and some rather peculiar sounds were coming from it, not to mention voices. He finally gave into his curiosity and went to see what was going on.

“Hang on, is that dragon flying backward?”

“Yeah,” Tsuna said, clicking mouse buttons as the fingers of his left hand danced around on the keys. “I’m sure they’ll patch it soon enough.”

“Why English?”

“Helps keep the language fresh in my mind,” Tsuna replied, then grinned as the dragon died and devolved into an odd display of pyrotechnics.

He honestly had no real clue what was going on in the game, but, well, his Sky was enjoying it, so… “Well,” he said. “I was on my way to train Romeo again. Since you’re not busy, would you like to help?”

Tsuna gave him a quick nod, then tapped a few keys, saved his game, and exited from it.

“Nice music,” he observed.

“Yeah, it’s got a great soundtrack. I especially like the Secunda track that plays at night sometimes.”

Reborn claimed Tsuna’s arm and walked with him to the training room they had selected. After a quick change of clothing they were ready to torture Romeo, who had a somewhat uneasy look on his face. “Romeo,” he said gaily, “we’re going to have so much fun!”

Daemon chose that moment to attack with lightning from wherever he was hiding, causing Romeo to shriek like a little girl and dance in place.

Daemon hummed. Dino and his men had just come for a visit. Beyond that, a girl had been following them. Bianchi Scorpione was even then being shunted away due to the effects of the wards. He clucked his tongue and called Byakuran.

“Ciao~! What is it, my clever friend?”

“Bianchi is in town.”

“Oh? Well now, someone unaffiliated with Gesso traipsing around my territory and bothering my friends? I’ll have to do something about that.”

“She’ll probably take a room somewhere in town. Shouldn’t be much trouble to figure out which one.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Byakuran said cheerfully. “Ciao~!”

Tsuna beamed a smile at Dino (minus any special effects) and hauled him off up the stairs. “It’s down this way,” he said, heading west. The east wing belonged to them, naturally. “There are eight rooms on this level, one of which is a guest room. They’re identical except for the colours.”

All the doors were open. He watched as Dino poked his head into the first room on the left, which was done up in creams and browns. “The next room down is Sun, then Sky, then Rain. The others are on the right side, of course.” He hustled Dino off again by the expedient of grabbing his trouser leg and pulling, and shuffled him into the Sky suite. “Do you like it?”

Dino set his messenger bag down (Tsuna was surprised the man’s guardians had allowed him to carry even that much) and smiled. “I like what you’ve done.”

“It’s not all that different from my suite,” he replied. “Well, mine has concessions to my size, like retractable steps and such, but otherwise it’s mostly a duplicate. And, since I don’t really expect to ever be entertaining another Sky here this way, you can more or less consider this wing as yours. I guess.”

Dino snatched him up for a warm hug. “You’re really cool, you know that?”

His face heated up in a blush. “Well, Dino-nii…”

“Eh? But you’re a way more experienced Sky than I am. Why are you calling me big brother?”

“You’re taller than me?” he said slowly. “Either way, we’re both very fond of Reborn, and he’s fond of us, and I’m fond of you, so that makes us family. Sort of.”

“Right. Right. Okay.” Dino nodded and checked out the rest of the suite, Tsuna still in his arms. “My God, that bed is big enough for four of me.”

“Well, we did go a bit overboard there, I suppose,” he admitted. “I could fit at least two dozen of me on mine. On the other hand, it’s useful if you’re a restless sleeper.”

Romario arrived at that point loaded down with suitcases, which he laid atop the dresser. “Thank you for the lovely accommodations, Sora.”

He smiled and nodded. A short time later he was shopping for dinner with Dino, Reborn, and Romario. Dino had decided on Japanese and asked Tsuna to pick. Dinner would be more costly due to imported ingredients, but that was fine in his eyes. He found it sweet that Dino would choose to honor his homeland.

“I’m going to have to use the dining room for once,” he muttered as they drove back.

“You normally eat in the kitchen, I suppose,” Dino said.

“Hai. Don’t see the point in using that thundering great table for just us normally. The kitchen is cozy-ish.”

Dino agreed once they got there to unload the supplies. “Wow, your house is really homey,” he said, looking around the room. “A table big enough for the family, the island with bar stools… I guess it makes sense, though, right? You don’t employ servants, so it’s best to have everything to your requirements.”

Tsuna nodded and got started. He had decided on oyakodon, gyūdon, miso soup, and for afters, green tea castella. It was a smash hit, even if some of them had no clue what the hell they were eating. Seeing Dino try to use hashi, on the other hand, produced a number of suspicious coughing fits amongst Tsuna’s guardians before the the blond gave up and used Western cutlery.

Hayato was very quiet, partly because he was seated next to Fon, and partly because he was a bit awed at having an extra seven adult mafiosi around, one of whom was the boss of a fairly large famiglia. He still followed like a puppy when everyone moved to the living room and, as soon as he figured out which one of the men was Dino’s Storm Guardian, started pestering Michael for ideas on how to use his flames.

Tsuna just rolled his eyes and smiled up at Dino who, for some reason, shuddered. “Eh?”

“That smile—it was too much like Reborn’s.”

“Oh, well, I have been helping him to get Romeo some additional training. I mean, it’s not like we want anyone to figure out who I am, but should it come to it, we’d like Romeo to be just as ridiculously lethal as the rest of us.”

“Why do you keep it a secret?” Dino asked quietly.

He shrugged. “I don’t think it’s anyone’s business, really, who the Sky Arcobaleno is, or even who he’s harmonized with. You’re different because you were Reborn’s student and I’m quite fond of you. Even got to teach you some things myself. You’re a very good student, by the way. Besides, can you imagine the weirdness that would happen if people realized who Welkin Est really is? Or that he has Arcobaleno working for him? We’d be inundated with jobs, and half or more of them would be from people wanting to catch a glimpse or get an autograph. Right now we have a steady stream we’re more than capable of handling, and plenty of time to do other things, like train or play games or whatever.”

Dino’s brow furrowed.

“Colonnello is going to build us an obstacle course out back and then we can have loads of fun,” he added.

“You mean like that monstrosity at Mafia Land?” Dino asked, looking a bit pale.

“Yeah,” he said happily. “That thing was absurdly fun. I want one for myself. C’mon, Dino, what’s not to like about getting to play in the mud even when you’re an adult? Only little kids get to do stuff like that, right? But we can scamper through a course like that and let loose! Nobody thinks it’s weird because it’s ‘training’.”

Dino blinked a few times and started nodding. “You know, you’re right. I was always so nervous as a kid, and so clumsy, that something like the obstacle course sent me into a cold sweat. But why shouldn’t I have fun?”

“I even convinced Kiri to go through when we visited,” he confided in a whisper.

Dino sent a skeptical look at Daemon.

“But he cheated and used illusion to cover up how messy he got,” he further whispered. “I had mud coming off me all the way to guest quarters, after all.”

Dino grinned, then looked a bit uncertain.

“What?”

“Will you…” Dino bit his lip. “Will you teach me a bit about cooking?”

Tsuna gaped for a moment. “Um, okay?”

“It’s just… I didn’t even see that you did anything out of the ordinary, but the results… Wow.”

Tsuna looked around with squinty-eyed mock suspicion, eyeing the other people in the room. “We’ll have to have a super secret closed meeting to discuss this.”

Dino tried for an evil laugh, and failed, causing a number of people to look at him oddly. He blushed and ducked his head.

“Ignore them,” Tsuna said gaily. “Let’s go talk in my suite.”

“What are you up to?” Reborn asked, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

“We’re going to have a super secret Sky meeting,” Tsuna chirped as Dino picked him up and prepared to head upstairs. “Post guards if you want, but this is a closed meeting. Sky business. Super secret. Very hush hush.”

Reborn nodded solemnly. “I’ll make arrangements.”

“Onward!” he cried. Once they were finally tucked away—cozily settled on his bed—he said, “The secret to my cooking is very simple. My mother, before she died, taught me. When I cook, I do so in her memory. Everything I make is with love and honor. Well, Reborn seems to have some suspicion that I put Sky Flames in, too, but I’ve never particularly noticed. Then again, I do like to find harmony in my surroundings and whatnot, so perhaps he’s right, and perhaps I do it without thinking.”

“Huh. I don’t really remember my mother. She died when I was pretty small,” Dino said softly. “Father has never liked to talk about it. I think he still mourns her.”

“I would imagine he loved your mother very much and was left with a gaping hole in his life,” he opined. “I’m not about to ask him, though. So, if you like, I can teach you to make some simple things, to see if you even like cooking. Because there’s no point in teaching you to make a full, complicated meal if…”

Dino nodded. “And the staff at the manor would probably flip out if I tried to take over the cooking, not that I normally have enough free time to do it. Still… It’d be nice if I could occasionally cook for my guys, you know? Show them how much I appreciate them. Reborn practically glowed every time you sent a care package.”

Tsuna giggled quietly. “He intimidated me at first,” he whispered.

Dino gawked at him. “Really?”

He nodded firmly. “Oh yes. He’s got such a reputation, and he’s so incredibly skilled. That’s one of the reasons I started a business, so I could make something of a name for myself. And I practiced like crazy. Still do.”

Dino started to nod, but quickly shook his head. “Speaking of that… You really had me going that night. All I could see was a tiny child, scared out of his mind.”

He smirked. “Sometimes being this small is an advantage. And it helped you to stop being so scared.”

“You’re just as manipulative as Reborn,” Dino accused with a scowl.

“Yep. But I’m cute and you like me.”

Dino rolled his eyes.

“Hey, hey, sometimes it’s an advantage to pretend. You can be really sharp underneath, but people looking at you might get overconfident if you seem a bit… Hm. Unaware? Too nice? And then you nip their heads off when they do something stupid, like attack.”

“You pretending to be what you look like, crying in fear, then disemboweling your captors.”

“Right! They didn’t expect that at all. Now, this is just my opinion, and I’ve no doubt there are Skies out there who would think I’m insane, but we are harmony, and that means, generally speaking, that we’re nice and nonconfrontational. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be effective and it doesn’t mean we can’t be lethal. If people are too stupid to pay attention, that’s to our advantage. The only people who need to know that kind of truth are your loved ones and your very close friends.”

“Well, and allied bosses.”

“To an extent, yes,” he said agreeably. “But they don’t need to know it all, just enough to know that an alliance is solid and real.”

“How old are you really?” Dino asked, his face alight with curiosity.

“Ooo, um, only my guardians know the answer to that,” he said a bit ruefully. “But I think, at some point down the line, I could tell you. You and I have a bond, and I expect it will grow. Not the same as one with a guardian, but a bond all the same. Now, what would you like to learn how to make first? We can start tomorrow.”


	10. 10: 2013-2015

He looked up as Daemon entered his office and paused. Something was off, but he could not tell what. Then he spotted the small figure hiding behind his Mist. “Eh?”

Daemon reached behind him and picked up the child, then closed the door and took a seat. “This little one is Fūta de la Stella. I found him being chased by members of a rather unsavory famiglia.”

His eyes widened. It was so easy to forget certain details when they weren’t being flashed in front of you on a regular basis. He played dumb, of course, for the benefit of the boy. “Does he need protection?”

Fūta’s eyes lit up, but he seemed awfully confused. “You’re so small, though! Even smaller than me.”

Tsuna smiled. “I’m … special. But we run an information gathering business, so it doesn’t matter so much that I’m tiny. You can call me Sora, okay?” After Fūta nodded he continued, “Would you like protection?”

Fūta stared at him blankly, then his eyes went all starry and small items in the room began to float. The boy said nothing, just stared sightlessly, his lips slightly parted. Then everything dropped and Fūta blinked a few times. “Okay!”

“Okay,” he echoed. “How old are you?”

“I’m seven!” Fūta said proudly, puffing out his chest.

Tsuna smiled again and slid off his chair so he could walk around the desk. “How about we go get a snack?”

“Okay!” Fūta squirmed and was promptly set down by Daemon, so Tsuna led him away to the kitchen.

When he got to the kitchen he saw a message waiting for him on the refrigerator: i’ll see if hayato wants to share his room. otherwise, i’ll set up the one next door to hayato.

“We have lots of kinds of drinks, and plenty of fruit…”

Fūta pointed at the bowl of apples kept on the counter, so Tsuna fetched one down and handed it over, and got one for himself.

“Have a lot of people been bothering you?” he asked.

Fūta nodded, his expression turning sad. “I can usually get away. But this last time there were a lot of bad men. Your friend found me and helped.”

“Is there someone we need to contact?”

Tears welled up in Fūta’s eyes and spilled over.

‘Oh dear. I’ll have to get the details from Daemon,’ he thought, then gave Fūta an awkward hug. “It’s fine,” he said softly. “You don’t need to talk about things that upset you. Let’s have our snack, okay?”

Fūta’s tears tapered off and he was soon enough happily munching on his apple. Tsuna thought the kid looked too small and a bit worse for wear. Had he been on the run? Were his parents murdered? He couldn’t wait to be able to talk to Daemon to see what he’d witnessed or stolen from various minds.

Fūta was looking awfully sleepy by the time he finished his apple, so Tsuna led him away to the second floor. Daemon popped up and smoothly steered them into Hayato’s suite. All the rooms on the second floor were doubles that shared a sitting room. Fūta was tucked into the unused bed, now his, and Tsuna wandered off with his Mist to have a chat.

“So…”

“I hate to say it, but…” Daemon looked either upset or annoyed, he wasn’t quite sure. “Fūta’s parents are alive, to start. But once they caught him doing his thing, they freaked out, started treating him differently. They’re normals.”

“Uh oh,” he breathed. “Do you have the paperwork ready?”

“Of course. I was just waiting on your say so, love. I can get that done in no time flat, and we’ll have custody of the boy.”

He nodded. “Do it. Hayato didn’t kick up a fuss?”

“Surprisingly, no, but it might have had something to do with how I buttered him up with subtle flattery. He’s feeling rather chuffed at the moment, all big brother-ish, and seeing himself as a role model.”

“And if he’s feeling all responsible, that means he’ll work even harder to keep his temper under control,” he mused. “I like it! And you didn’t have to do any mental mumbo-jumbo on him?”

Daemon shook his head. “Not even a whisper. I figure, once Fūta is comfortable here, with all of us, we can ease him into a light exercise routine, and keep building on that.”

“And of course, never ever ask him to rank anything for us.”

Daemon nodded again. “If he volunteers, that’s one thing, but even then I think we should be sparing there. And if he never does, that’s fine, too. It’s not like we’ve needed that kind of helping hand in the past for our work.”

“Any idea yet if he’s actually an Earth?”

“I don’t know. Maybe once he’s a little older we can give him a ring and see if he can spark it, but for now…”

“Okay. Soon as you have the paperwork completed I’ll see about getting him enrolled locally. Guess I should sit him down for a talk about that ability, though, try to impress on him to not do it in public if at all possible. Unfortunately, they won’t be in the same school, else I’d ask Hayato to keep an eye on him. But, they can walk together, there and back.”

“I can also keep a spy on the boy, in case he unthinkingly ranks something. That would allow me to fix people’s memories. The fewer people who know anything about him the better.”

He nodded. “Right. And I’ll let Byakuran know he’s here.”

He was preparing for dinner when Fon wandered into the kitchen with a little person in tow. Tsuna did a double-take, nodded, and went back to chopping vegetables. ‘Solves that problem, then,’ he thought. ‘Though I have to wonder how Fon stumbled over I-Pin while in Sicily.’

“Hello, Sora,” Fon said serenely.

“Does the little one like steak?” he replied. “Because I’m in the mood for steak. And are there any vegetables she doesn’t like?”

Fon looked momentarily surprised, but said, “I-Pin is not very fond of broccoli.”

“Oh? Took me years before I learned to appreciate broccoli. But I will never like cauliflower.” He shook his head and shuddered.

I-Pin giggled quietly.

He finished up the last carrot and started on a pepper. “Well, have a seat. Tell me all about your minion.”

Fon stared at him, then hoisted I-Pin up onto a stool, then went to fetch a juice box for her before taking a seat for himself. “She is three. I have decided to take her on as an apprentice.”

“Super cool! And Hayato can have another sibling.”

Fon relaxed a skosh, though Tsuna was having trouble understanding why his Storm would be nervy over having brought home a stray. He would not have done it without a damn good reason, after all, and it saved Tsuna some trouble down the line.

“She only speaks Chinese at the moment.”

“Oh.” His knife paused. “Good thing you and Reborn taught me, then. Well, when she’s done with her juice, set her up in the room next to the boys. We can talk about particulars later.”

It wasn’t until much later, after I-Pin had gone to sleep, that he walked with Fon to his office and settled in on the loveseat in there. “So what happened?”

“Unfortunately, I got caught up in, during the course of the job, a massive fight. One side was a bunch of child slavers. They are responsible for little I-Pin being so far away from home. It’s possible they snatched her because she’s an orphan. I did have to take some of them down in my efforts to remove myself from the situation, and she witnessed some of it. Attached herself to me and tried to help. I’d be a pretty poor person if I didn’t help her.”

Tsuna nodded. “It’s fine. You said she tried to help?”

Fon winced. “She kept going for the groin.”

“Oh. Oh my.”

When Daemon sat down for lunch he had that look about him again. Tsuna rolled his eyes and set the last plate in place, then took a seat. “Have at it,” he said, then diligently set to work on devouring his stir fry.

I-Pin squealed and dove in, figuratively speaking. She had managed fairly well with learning Japanese, though the kanji kept tripping her up. Italian was also coming along nicely.

As he nabbed a peapod with his hashi a message appeared on the table ahead of his plate: federico died.

Every adult at the table groaned softly. Hayato and Fūta looked around in confusion, but when nobody leaped to explain they went back to eating.

Naturally, they had an after-hours meeting, and Byakuran had stopped by to help. Daemon started things off by repeating himself. “Federico bought the farm. All they found was bones.”

“Then how did they know it was him?” Tsuna sensibly asked.

“Dental records and a metal pin in one arm that was inserted when he was twelve,” Daemon said promptly.

He sighed. “Well this sucks.”

“I have my story ready,” Byakuran caroled. “If it’s ever needed, that is.”

“One moment,” he said, then grabbed a throw pillow, pressed it against his face, and screamed his lungs out. After putting it back and giving it a little pat, he smiled at his fellows. “So, once again, Vongola is proven incompetent.”

“And now we wait to find out if they’re too incompetent to know whom to contact,” Reborn said.

“The alternate location is up and running,” Daemon reported. “Shades are moving about on schedule and the protections there are working as intended. If anyone should bother to dig deep enough, they’ll find that Welkin designed and emplaced the protections, paid for by Gesso. It was very expensive, of course.”

Byakuran sniggered.

“So, Reborn and I just need to see if we get contacted,” Colonnello said, his eyes narrowed.

“So a few days,” Skull said, “if any of them have the sense God gave them, which I doubt.”

In point of fact, several days later, Skull buzzed into his office waving a letter. His expression conveyed shock and confusion. “They wrote to _me_!”

“Say what now?” He saved his game and exited so he could give his full attention to his Cloud.

“Some ridiculous tripe about how I’ve got an airship and get around, so maybe I’ve happened upon a boy who looks like the picture they enclosed.”

“They? You mean that man?”

Skull nodded a few times, his mouth twisting in antipathy.

“Ugh. Well, do you feel like sending them on a wild goose chase, or would you prefer to be very, very busy with jobs?”

“Jobs. I’ll make shit up if I have to,” Skull replied. “In fact, I’m out of the country and won’t receive the letter for weeks.”

Tsuna grinned and nodded. “Okay.”

Two days after that Reborn and Colonnello were haunting his office, both holding envelopes by their corners, as if afraid of being infected with stupidity. The two exchanged a look, then Colonnello sat down first and cracked open his letter as Reborn also took a seat. Colonnello sighed. “Stupid bastard had enough brains it seems,” he said. “That man has requested my assistance in attempting to track you down. Because I’m so well connected, of course.”

Reborn looked up from his letter and nodded. “The Vongola Nono wants to meet with me regarding a very delicate matter.”

“I just love how I’ve been missing for years, and they only now give a damn,” he said bitterly. “That means either none of my half-siblings are Skies, or Nono thinks he won’t live long enough for one to succeed him. Okay.”

Reborn smirked. “I’ll catch a ride north tomorrow.”

“In that case, I might wait two days,” Colonnello said. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Sorting your sock collection?” Reborn asked. “Giving names to each and every bullet you possess?”

“No, but now that you mention it…”

Reborn strutted into the Vongola Nono’s office feeling smug, simply because nobody had the balls to even consider stripping him of his many, many weapons. And on top of that, they would have to strap him down six ways to Sunday due to his knowledge of martial arts, somehow deprive him of his pacifier without killing him, and subdue Leon. Not happening. Knocking him unconscious would be a start—assuming they could even manage that much—but that would make it a mite difficult to talk about this “delicate” issue.

The Vongola Nono looked old and weary. Lines of age and expression marred his face, but it was still a fairly kindly face. “Thank you for coming,” Nono said, gesturing toward a chair.

Reborn was pleased that it was tall enough to counteract the height advantage the man would otherwise have, and annoyed that he was expected to jump in order to get onto it. He made it seem effortless, his ascension to that perch, and crossed one leg over the other, then nodded. Let the man speak first; it was always illuminating to wait someone out.

After a nice bit of staring, Nono finally deigned to introduce himself as Don Timoteo, the Vongola Nono.

“Reborn,” he said, “the world’s greatest hitman.”

“And Sun Arcobaleno.”

It was only through sheer force of will that he prevented himself from rolling his eyes. It was a sticking point in his mind, having his accomplishments prior to being suckered into a cursed life be tossed aside. It had not taken long before he realized that poor Renato Sinclair had been buried beneath the weight of a sunny yellow pacifier.

Thankfully, Nono decided to move on from stating the obvious and said, “I have contacted you because of, primarily, your sterling reputation, not only your ethics and competence, but also your ability to reliably pass on your knowledge.”

A reference to Dino, obviously, though the boy was hilariously inept at using a gun.

“To that end, and knowing your honor, I would like to ask you to track someone down for me and, should you find him, tutor him.”

“Why?” Best to keep it simple. For a moment there he could swear he saw deep sorrow in the man’s eyes. But considering that his third son had just kicked it, that sort of made sense. A tiny part of him sympathized, but given the amount of failure going on over the last few years, he was hard pressed to hold onto the feeling.

“You may or may not be aware that my sons are all now…” Nono trailed off into a pregnant pause, then continued, “We lost one of our children. He was five at the time. He is the current heir to Vongola, if he lives, and I sincerely hope that is the case.”

“Lost?” His tone might have conveyed a faint hint of something unpleasant, but he was fairly certain “disbelief” would be heard.

“The boy lived in Japan. Estraneo somehow found out about the child and went after him.”

“Estraneo was wiped out, by you.”

Nono nodded. “For the torture and murder of a Vongola, the suspected kidnapping of one, and the intent to use one of our own against us. We have no idea what happened to the boy, only that he was not there when we arrived, living or dead.”

He nodded. “No body, no proof. Like Jimmy Hoffa.”

Oh, the old man almost smiled at that. “Quite. The boy I speak of is Tsunayoshi Sawada.”

Reborn allowed his brow to slide up smoothly. “As in CEDEF?”

Nono nodded slowly, then flicked a glance at one of his guardians, who promptly stepped forward to offer a photograph.

He took it and made a show of examining the thing; it was the same one sent to Skull, probably taken by Nana. The only other alternative would have been a Vongola spy, but if any of those had been around, she might yet live. The boy in the picture really was a boy. There was nothing of the Tsuna he knew in it, nothing of the young man he adored. A slight pulse in his chest reminded him that Tsuna was watching, and so was Daemon.

“Should you locate the child, he would obviously have to be tutored. The only information we have is that he was away on a trip with a friend. For all we know they went to Disney World, except that I sincerely doubt he had a passport. But if his companions of the time saw reports of his mother’s death and knew he was alone… We alone are not the only ones capable of things like doctoring paperwork.”

He nodded. All it took was a decent hacker and someone good at slipping into places they ought not to be.

“Odds are the boy has no idea about the mafia. He would need to be taught, trained, raised up to succeed me.”

He held Nono’s gaze for a few seconds before saying, “And if he wants nothing to do with this?”

Nono exhaled slowly, sadly, regretfully. “I am too old. I may not live long enough for the next in line to be old enough to take the reins.”

“So you’re saying there is someone else.”

“Very possibly, but that child is four at the moment, and we are as yet uncertain if the child is a Sky.”

He looked down at the photograph again, considering what to say next. “You have shown no proof that the missing Vongola is even a Sky. That being so, I can see two separate contracts. One to find him, and one to teach him.” He badly wanted to point out just how incompetent they seemed to be, but he could save his ire for arguing over contractual terms. And if he didn’t get his way? Well, they would have to deal with the Sky Arcobaleno, who was not any more of a mind to take shit than he was.

“You would be able to tell.”

“Of course I would,” he said with a bare hint of offense.

“Well, assuming you are amenable, let us discuss terms for a contract to locate the boy. And after that, to tutor him.”

He pursed his lips. “I suppose it’s a good thing Vongola is comfortable, because I don’t come cheap.”

One of the guardians slipped away and returned with a tray loaded down with snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. Reborn selected a few tarts and some espresso—placed on a little table provided to him—and pulsed the stuff reflexively. Nono waved a dismissive hand at a guardian of his who twitched in presumed outrage and settled in to haggle terms.

That took a half hour, and he could swear Tsuna must be laughing from his comfortable seat back home. Daemon was kind enough to offer advice via the usual illusionary messages that only he could see. In the end he got Nono to agree to a flat rate per day, and it was not too onerous. Vongola was loaded, but there was no sense in pushing for too much on a tracking job.

The contract for tutoring, on the other hand, took quite a bit longer. As he said at one point, “I’m sure you’ll forgive me for saying that the Vongola Famiglia has not exactly shown its best colours so far when it comes to heirs of this generation. The very idea that the boy, if found, would be brought here, strikes terror in my heart in terms of his survival rate.”

‘Well, that was putting a cat amongst the pigeons,’ he thought smugly as insulted expressions flashed all around. “I did an excellent job tutoring young Dino Cavallone; he’s become a fine boss and successor to his father. But this child? I realize what I say must be highly offensive, but I would require custody, so that I could protect him. You surely understand I have not unfounded doubts.”

“His father—”

“Father? How often did this father visit the boy? Spend time with him? Would the child even recognize him as anything other than a stranger with an unhealthy interest in him?”

Nono aged about ten years on hearing that, but bounced back reasonably well.

“I am perfectly willing to tutor another Sky, but I do not need a bunch of people getting in the way and causing confusion, people the boy doesn’t even know, and has no reason to trust. Not saying he’d have much reason to trust me, either, but then, I’m such a cute little fellow and so very nonthreatening.”

“I have heard a whisper of a tale, of you and the young Cavallone Decimo, with but a single guardian, taking on over two dozen men,” Nono said quietly.

Reborn grinned. “Oh yes, that was a fun evening. My student blossomed that night.”

“How many of them did you kill?”

He smirked. “One. And that’s only because a little one was involved. One of the bastards was aiming at his head. For the others, well… My student and his man wouldn’t be learning anything if I did all the work. They were brilliant.”

In the end he got everything he wanted, though Daemon helped with some of the wording for persuasive purposes. The man was a genius when it came to being slippery, and Reborn was not above being grateful for a second (and third) set of eyes to point out anything that might try to sneak by him.

He was tired by the time both contracts were printed off, read through with exacting attention to detail, and signed. He got the originals, declined an invitation to overnight, and departed in a manner that suggested speed yet was calculatedly lazy.

Colonnello bit back a sigh as he waited to see Iemitsu and wondered how Reborn had fared in his meeting. With any luck he had sweet talked his way into everything they wanted for the moment. He could feel Tsuna’s presence and that warmth helped keep him from fidgeting. His phone chirped and he took a quick look, then smiled faintly. Speak of the devil. So all he had to do was get through his meeting without garroting, shooting, disemboweling, blowing up, or poisoning Tsuna’s sperm donor.

A door popped open a few minutes later and Lal appeared around the frame. “Come on in.”

He slid off his chair and entered the room, tensed when he saw Iemitsu, and cursed himself for doing so. “So what’s up, hey? I don’t normally get invited to a place like this.”

“Colonnello,” Lal hissed.

He ignored her; she wasn’t the one in charge and she wasn’t the one who had asked for a meeting.

“Good to see you again,” Iemitsu claimed with a broad smile Colonnello immediately pegged as fake. “Have a seat, please. Can I get you something to drink?”

He hopped into a chair and shook his head. “No thank you.”

“I heard you left Mafia Land.”

‘Good Lord, I wonder how long he’ll take to get to the damn point,’ he thought. “Yeah. Burned out on the place. Got tired of listening to wealthy little nancy boys whining about my training regimen.”

Iemitsu laughed heartily; it lacked soul to his ears, but Colonnello admitted he was predisposed to seeing and hearing the worst from the man who had so fundamentally failed his Sky. “I can see where that might get a bit tiresome. So, I’ve been thinking.”

‘Does it hurt?’

“You know a whole lot of people. I’m hoping you can make some very discreet inquiries on my behalf.”

He plastered a confused look on his face, of the sort one might find on an enthusiastic yet somewhat lacking raw recruit.

“A child is missing—has been for several years now—and so far we’ve come up with nothing. You, however, have had the opportunity to meet a wide variety of people from all over the place.”

He gave a noncommittal nod that was combined with an almost shrug.

“You’d be doing me a huge favor.”

“Got a picture?”

“Sure!” Iemitsu got up and headed to a huge desk to open one of the drawers, remove something, and return. He offered a 5x7 photograph.

Colonnello accepted it and examined it closely. It was Tsuna all right, but the boy pictured looked nothing like his Sky. Oddly enough, the boy’s eyes were more brown than amber, but he attributed the change to being cursed. “How old is this?”

“He’s almost five in that.”

“And he’s how old now?”

Iemitsu’s eyes darkened for a moment. “Thirteen, turning fourteen.”

“Who is he?”

Vongola’s “young lion” didn’t speak at first; his eyes went to the photograph. Eventually he said, “Considering that we have no idea if he even remembers his name, it’s probably irrelevant.”

He bit the inside of his cheek. Was this some form of plausible deniability at work? Or did the man just want to deny his own culpability? “Right,” he said, his tone shaded with skepticism.

Lal frowned at him.

“Well, I’ll have to spend some time considering what resources I can tap. I’ll get back to you.”

“I’d really appreciate it,” Iemitsu said. “Either way, I’ll owe you one.”

Colonnello tucked the photograph away and nodded, then saw himself out before either of them could object. He was away well before Lal could think to chase him down.

“Good heavens,” Tsuna said once they were assembled. “That man couldn’t even admit who I was!”

Colonnello shrugged. “Yeah, well, I have this Mist friend, you see, and he’s going to help me run around the country asking questions and then removing the memory of any of it happening. And since we know nobody knows anything, we have no reason to do anything. So let’s not and say we did.”

His eyes crossed. “Right. Good plan.” He looked at Reborn, who looked much too smug. “I think it’s going to take you approximately a month to track me down.”

“Sure,” Reborn said, and handed over the contracts.

“I find it amusing that my Sun Guardian is also my guardian.”

Reborn smirked. “Well, between the three of us, we got plenty of wiggle room in there. I’m your guardian, and they will be feeling pretty damn stupid once this all comes out.”

“They will,” he agreed, “but what you said was true, no matter how harsh it was. In fact, I’m glad you were that blunt. It’s not like you’re his personal assassin and have a warm relationship with regular meetings with coffee and cannoli.” He ignored Daemon’s fleeting smirk.

“That would be difficult considering it was the first time I’d ever spoken to the man,” Reborn drawled. “Anyway. It means, in case you were napping, that once I admit to knowing where you are and that I’ve taken up your education, I can refuse to say where you are.”

It took a moment for the implications to sink in, but when they did, Tsuna found himself giggling madly. “Actually, I must admit I’m ignorant on one point. Can they even try to claim custody over a Sky with a full bond, where all the guardians are adults? Because…”

Daemon and Reborn shared a look.

“I’m not sure it’s ever come up before,” Daemon finally said. “I’ve certainly never run across a situation where a sub-adult Sky had properly bonded adult guardians. I think a case could be made for custody to be shared amongst them rather than a parent who hadn’t seen the child in…”

“Ten years, almost eleven,” he said dryly. “Admittedly, I have no idea for how long he searched or how good of a job he did. I stopped caring once I was out of Japan. If they were searching here they were awfully quiet about it, so odds are I’d not have heard.”

“No matter,” Reborn said. “I have custody and you’re the boss.”

“The next question is … do we tell Dino?”

“I think we should have the whole group discuss that,” Colonnello said. “It’s ultimately your decision, Tsuna, but I don’t think it’d hurt for all of us to be on the same page.”

“Yeah, okay.”

They all met up, though it wasn’t until the next day, since some of them were away on jobs.

Tsuna started off with, “Reborn, you know him and his men the best. Without tampering, how do you feel about Dino’s ability to respect my privacy regarding my identity?”

“Wait,” Romeo said, sitting up straight. “Why are we considering this?”

“Vongola is actively looking for me again. I suppose I should have started by saying that, as expected, Vongola Nono and that man called for meetings with Taiyo and Ame.”

“Ah, all right.” Romeo nodded and sat back.

“I don’t normally like to make such definitive statements,” Reborn said.

“You mean aside from boasting that you’re the world’s greatest hitman?” Colonnello said with an innocent smile.

Reborn scowled at the blond. “But, I think Dino’s good for it. He’s too fond of both of us. Yes, Cavallone is a Vongola ally, but that doesn’t mean subordinate. Vongola doesn’t interfere with Cavallone, so neither should Cavallone with Vongola affairs. And even if Dino should happen to mention that they’ve been asked to keep an eye out, you are Vongola and can countermand, as the heir, that order. Or close enough. On a personal level? He won’t betray you.”

“Okay. That’s my feeling, too, but… I don’t like the idea of not telling him. I don’t want him caught out flat-footed when it inevitably comes out. Let’s face it, I’m going to end up as Decimo for a few years at least, and I’d like Dino’s full support.”

Nobody spoke for a minute, just eyed each other up curiously, then Reborn said, “I suggest that you, me, and Daemon go visit him. It’d be too odd for him to come south again so soon. Daemon can ensure that no one is listening in when we crack that secret.”

“What about the kids?” Skull asked.

Tsuna shook his head. “Too young. Well, Hayato might not be, but I’m not sure I see the point. They live with Sora and Welkin, not a Vongola heir. And any wacky shenanigans will be away from this manor. By the time I’d be installed at Vongola HQ he would be old enough to… Or well trained enough.” He shrugged. “He would still be here, doing jobs, in theory. But that’s for then. Plans are often enough altered or shattered.”

Skull nodded. “Just checking.”

“Just as well you did,” he said with a smile. “Okay, Reborn, will you arrange a visit with Dino, then?”

After Daemon and Reborn both gave the all clear, Tsuna popped open his bribe and shared out the sweets inside. Dino was halfway through some tiramisu—he was being surprisingly restrained in terms of how quickly it was being eaten—when Tsuna said, “Dino… Do you remember when you asked me about my true age?”

Dino’s head snapped up. “Yeah. Is it that time already?”

“This is … very private, Dino. You’ll understand why when I tell you the whole thing.”

The blond actually set his fork down and gave him his full attention.

“I’ll turn fourteen this year.”

Dino stared, then cracked up laughing. “Nah. No way.”

“Yes way. I may have stretched the truth slightly when you inquired about why I called you Dino-nii. But given that you are taller than me, well…”

“You’re trying to tell me that ending up as an Arcobaleno forcibly matures the brain?”

“Apparently so,” Daemon said.

Dino retreated into his snack long enough to have another bite and chew thoughtfully, something that was difficult to do with tiramisu and subsequently came across as stalling for time. He looked at Reborn with puppy eyes.

“He’s going to turn fourteen this year.”

The blond set his fork down again. “Okay. Why tell me now?”

“Shit has hit the fan,” Tsuna said succinctly. “Something I’ve been concerned about for years now. That, Dino-nii, is the … unveiling … of my identity. Well, not at large, perhaps, because I have every intention of continuing on with my business and sheltering behind that name.”

“Welkin Est.”

He nodded. “The thing is, I’m very fond of you, and Reborn is convinced you would not betray me.”

“You’re starting to make feel really nervous, you know,” Dino complained, the tone of his voice approaching “whine” level.

“Have some more tiramisu. I have plenty more sweets in reserve,” he said. “Dino, the Vongola lost a child seven years ago.”

“Eight,” Reborn corrected.

“Right, eight.”

“You’re that child?” Dino asked, fork halfway to his mouth.

Tsuna smiled warmly. “Very good. And yes. I’m the current heir, not that I ever wanted to be. They’re looking for me again, so I can be Decimo. Because I’m so fond of you, and because Vongola and Cavallone are allies, I did not want you to be publicly surprised or embarrassed. I have no intention of being Decimo for any longer than I have to. I want to be Welkin or Sora, run my business, and have plenty of time for my friends and family.”

“And you’re an Arcobaleno, so it’s not like they can expect you to… You know.”

“Right. There are other candidates, but they’re unproven as Skies, and far too young right now. I won’t say who, obviously. That’s an internal matter and not up to me at the moment.”

“So… Who are you?”

He sighed. “How much do you know about CEDEF?”

“They’re the external consultants for Vongola. A part, but not really, of Vongola. The current head is Iemitsu Sawa—oh. Oh. Hang on. I guess all that history, past and present, that Reborn pounded into my head… There’s no way you’re the Vongola Nono’s son, so … you’re a Sawada?”

“Unfortunately. I loathe my father with the fire of a thousand suns, Dino. He was never there, and by the time he was, my mother was dead. It’s wrong of me to say this, perhaps, but I have very little faith in Vongola. Three heirs dead already, one lost. I met you because you were Reborn’s student, not because you were slated to be the head of an allied famiglia. I won my Sun and made a friend. If things hadn’t gone so badly for Vongola my birth identity would never have mattered.”

Dino started shaking his head. “No, no, it doesn’t matter. I can see the conclusion to that line of thought. I’m deeply honored that you would come here and tell me. We’ve known each other for four years and you’ve taught me things my father would never have known to share. You don’t do that with someone you’re uncertain about. The Vongola supposedly have keen intuition.”

He smiled again. “We do,” he said, feeling grateful that the ability could cover a whole host of things he could never explain.

“The only other person available would be… Um… I forget his name offhand. The one who rebelled. Can’t see him being in the running.”

“Not if they have any sense,” Daemon said. “And he’s still imprisoned.”

“You would know, I suppose,” Dino said blithely. “You’ve got to be the strongest Mist alive.”

“Such flattery,” Daemon purred.

“Don’t let it go to your head, Kiri love.” As expected, it diverted his Mist’s attention straight onto him. In the blink of an eye he was being cuddled on Daemon’s lap. “We have plans.”

Dino laughed again. “Of course you do.”

“We have a number of plans. Reborn is going to find me in a month, and he managed to secure guardianship of this missing Vongola child.”

Dino laughed so hard he fell off his chair and stabbed himself with his fork in the process. Reborn was smirking as he healed the wound. A new fork was found to replace the inadvertent weapon. “That never happened,” he said as he reclaimed his chair.

“It never happened,” he said agreeably. “So, we have plans. We’re going to mess about for a while, Reborn will send reports detailing whatever fictitious things he’s teaching me, and we’ll keep that up for as long as humanly possible. We may or may not be asking you if you’d be willing to join in on the fun.”

“I could come help teach occasionally,” Dino said, “and form a brotherly bond with this adorable new Sky and future leader of the mafia world.”

“And intimidate your men into keeping their mouths shut, assuming your association with Reborn doesn’t already manage that.”

“Well, he is a sadist.”

Reborn looked up from his espresso with an innocent, heartwarming smile.

“That he is,” Tsuna said affectionately. “We have an alternate location with fakes wandering about and protections that mess with your mind. Not yours, of course, but anyone else’s. You and your men are protected from that sort of thing, rather like how you’re protected from the ones at my manor. So any visits you make to this adorable new Sky and future leader of the mafia world will be to there.”

“Sure, sure. Still in Portici?”

“Yep. And Byakuran is ready with a completely fictitious story about how he rescued me from … someone. Something like that.”

“Okay,” Dino said enthusiastically.

The Vongola Nono was apparently a sad old man, and an eager old man. He accepted Reborn’s reports without much question, though he did ask for clarification at times on certain points. Tsuna first bonded with a Cloud who was referred to only as “Cloud”. According to Reborn, Nono was rather shocked by that information, as Clouds were notoriously difficult to secure the loyalty of.

Reborn had passed on the location of the house Tsuna was allegedly staying at, but warned that there were strong protections in place, and that visiting without permission would be a bad idea. Reborn took the security of his ward very seriously indeed.

He also sent along pictures. Daemon had simply shrugged on the guise of a thirteen year old Tsuna for Reborn to photograph, and had constructs play the parts of the tutors, both Japanese and Italian, that Byakuran had allegedly arranged for. “Cloud” was only captured from the back, and his hair was a wild shade of purple. Sometimes it was best to play to tradition.

Then came the Mist, “Mist”. They lied about how long it took, of course.

Of note was the day they were window shopping in town, reasonably secure in the knowledge that no Vongola spy was going to pay attention, when a missile streaked past them and exploded the corner of a nearby shop.

He started looking around wildly, then went still on seeing a very familiar figure. “Oh, fuck,” he whispered.

Daemon promptly send out a wave of mind-altering flames that sent the generally clueless and panicking civilians off on random errands.

“Lambo is here!” cried a very childish voice. “Lambo will kill you, Reborn!”

“Kami-sama,” he muttered.

Romeo swooped in and snatched up the boy. “Hey, little man, whatcha doing?”

Lambo scowled at his captor, then widened his eyes to alarming proportions. “Daddy?”

‘Oh, wow, I always knew they looked similar, but seeing them next to each other… It’s mind-blowing.’

“Daddy?” Romeo echoed.

“You’re Lambo’s daddy, aren’t you? You must be! You look just like Lambo,” Lambo said happily.

Tsuna turned his head so he could safely snigger against Daemon’s shoulder without drawing too much attention. A minute later they were all piled into the car and driving away from the scene in plenty of time to avoid the police. Lambo was attached to Romeo like a sandspur and chattering away happily, completely ignoring Reborn, who was eyeing the situation in bemusement.

Romeo carried Lambo into the house and straight into the kitchen, where he sank onto a bar stool. “Kid. Who are you?”

Tears began to well in Lambo’s large green eyes and his lower lip began to quiver. Tsuna distracted him from an all out crying jag with a convenient bunch of grapes. Lambo gasped and followed up with a delighted giggle. His cheeks were bulging a moment later and his eyes were bright with happiness.

“I think for the moment you should take him at his word,” Tsuna suggested. “Have we got anyone who can do DNA testing? Because I am seriously curious here. I mean, look at them. Except for the eye colour…”

Reborn clucked his tongue and nodded. “We could ask Dolce.”

“Sweets?” Lambo said hopefully.

“Eat your grapes, little man,” Romeo said firmly.

Lambo noticed Reborn again and cried, “Reborn! Lambo will—wait. Lambo’s daddy is alive … so Reborn could not have killed him … so…” A sticky finger went up to press against the boy’s lower lip. “Reborn is innocent? Daddy?”

Tsuna had to bury his face against Daemon’s shoulder again at the look on Romeo’s face. “Please get ahold of Dolce,” he said, his voice a bit muffled and shaky.

Several days later they had the results. Romeo was Lambo’s father.

“So…”

Romeo had been doing a lot of thinking recently and was prepared with a potential answer. “It was around the time when we first met. Well, during the time between then and when we harmonized. I met this girl—she never would tell me more than her given name. It was a one night stand. You know, mutual need, no strings attached. She said she was protected, and I used a condom anyway because it was the correct thing to do.”

“And illegitimate children in the mafia are…”

“Yeah. I can only imagine both methods failed. I can’t think of any other possible way I could end up with a five year old son.”

Tsuna nodded. “Well, I don’t have problem with you claiming him and us giving him a home. After all, I’m feeling more than a little miffed that the Bovino boss apparently told the kid that he’d have to avenge his father for a chance at being considered for heir of the famiglia.”

“What exactly did you manage to dig up?”

“The girl was the boss’s daughter and was apparently married off once it became known she was in a family way. The husband took on the Bovino name, to keep things tidy. But they were both killed during a weapons malfunction. I can only assume the Bovino boss is highly embarrassed by the boy and sent him off to get himself killed.”

“Even though Reborn is now associated with Vongola, their allies?”

“He doesn’t know that, presumably,” Tsuna pointed out. “It’s not like they took out an advert in the paper. Reborn would have a meltdown if Vongola put me in that much danger, and I’d be Decimo in fact, not just presumptive, a whole hell of a lot sooner. So, we need to socialize the little cow. Maybe he and I-Pin can cozy up as siblings or something. That girl doesn’t take shit from anyone, so perhaps she can effectively squash his more exuberant antics.”

Romeo snickered madly. “I’m going to guess that the step-father didn’t even come close to looking like either of us.”

Tsuna shook his head. “Like night and day, with a side of next Tuesday.”

Lambo added excitement to their lives. The only people who could get him to calm down were Romeo, as his “Daddy”, I-Pin, via threats of bodily harm, and Sora, because he was such a fantastic cook and always made sure there were seedless grapes in the house. Grapes with seeds had been banned after the very first instance, mainly because Lambo liked to spit the seeds at people in not-so-sneaky attacks.

He was checking on his investments when his phone chirped. A look showed a text from Reborn, something about a weapons tuner who—‘Hang on, I remember that guy, and I remember what came next. Why the hell didn’t I make the connection between the deaths and Verde?’ He shot off a text to Daemon and then one to Reborn. No way was he leaving the protections of his manor to meet with that crackpot.

Daemon glided in a few minutes later and took a seat after closing the door, sweeping the room for bugs, and tossing up some protections.

“Giannini is in town, which means those whispers of death we’ve been hearing are—”

“Most likely connected to Verde,” Daemon finished, nodding. “I had forgotten about that. Want to horrifically kill his assassins and send them back with another mocking note?”

“Sure. And we can work up some kind of glowing report for Reborn to send to Nono about how I was a real badass. Help me come up with a way to clue Reborn in without, you know… And then we can prance around obliviously until they take the bait. Because odds are, Giannini was anything but subtle, and Verde will know where to look.”

“You do realize I’ll have to alter your appearance.”

Tsuna scowled and nodded. “Fine. Let’s go to one of the training rooms so I can practice while under the influence.”

A few days later he, a proper-sized Daemon, and Reborn were strolling along “carelessly”. He hated how twitchy his illusionary disguise made him feel, but there was nothing else for it. On the mere chance that someone somewhere was watching, he had to appear to be a teenager.

They found a nice spot and settled in for a picnic. Under a tree. With low-hanging branches. Needless to say the assassins never stood a chance and Tsuna was very pleased with himself for managing to get kunai through all four eyes. “Good thing you explained to me all about that intuition thing,” he said as he stared at the two dead men. “Excuse me, please, I’m gonna go throw up.”

Tsuna wandered into the center of a clump of bushes and, just in case someone was watching from a distance with binoculars, pretended to lose his lunch as Reborn shot off a prearranged text. A van with tinted windows arrived not much later and two men got out, dumped the bodies in the back, then drove away. In reality, it was a disguised Romeo and a construct. Daemon had every intention of doing evil things to the assassins and sending them back to Verde in a box.

Back at the manor he said, “So that’s twice now Verde has inadvertently sent assassins after the Sky Arcobaleno.”

“I’m starting to think that he’s an idiot savant,” Reborn commented. “And that he took a job from the other side of the tracks. Why the hell else would he go after so many bosses and their heirs?”

“I think I’ll be watching this time, when the delivery arrives.” And he did. Daemon prompted him at the appropriate moment.

Verde had just opened the box when Tsuna peeked in, and the little green-haired scientist went through a full-body twitch at the sensation before launching into a screaming hissy fit. “I am not impressed,” he said softly, eyeing the destruction taking place at Verde’s laboratory. ‘Actually, he kind of reminds me of the previous Lambo in a way, except Verde is old enough to know better. Hell, even my current Lambo is better behaved than this guy.’

“I wonder if he’ll assume that Welkin got involved,” Daemon murmured. “Same general area, after all.”

“Maybe after he calms down? We’ll wait and see. I don’t want to do anything directly against him, against the code.” He gasped suddenly and looked at his Mist. “The decoy puppets.”

Daemon started laughing. “I can piece together what we knew of before, with what he has now. Yes, I’ll get started on that right away.”

Tsuna couldn’t even remember in what context he originally knew of them, but he did remember just how effective they were. He could remotely manipulate a puppet and most people would never know the difference. His other guardians could as well. It remained to be seen just how long they could fool people for, but if it meant his identity as Sky Arcobaleno and Welkin Est remained a secret…

A few days later Daemon was back with a peculiar little earring. It was designed to pierce through the top of his ear and therefore be mostly hidden. What little could be seen would look like a small mole more than anything. Daemon fooled his senses enough that he never even felt the pain of it being inserted, and Reborn healed him after giving him a funny look.

Tsuna went over to a mostly decorative mirror on one wall and gawked for a second. His hair was an inky black and much like it had been during his brief stint masquerading as a courier, and his features had shifted so that he no longer looked like a male clone of his mother. “It’s all in the earring,” he said, watching his Mist’s reflection.

“Yes,” Daemon said with a nod. “I put a piece of me, so to speak, in that earring. So long as you wear it, this is the form of the Sky Arcobaleno. I can still override it if necessary.”

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “with this in place I could call for a meeting. I look different enough, right?”

Reborn smirked maliciously. “That would be interesting.”

He glanced at his Mist, who nodded, then headed to his desk to write out three identical notes. Once he was satisfied he bleached them with the light of his pacifier and placed them into envelopes he banded with a plain ribbon of Sky Flames.

“When?” Reborn asked as Daemon took the envelopes for Lal, Viper, and Verde.

“Two weeks, at the Pacifier Spring.”

Skull arrived first, of course. Fon was second. They exchanged the usual, somewhat detached greetings expected of them, and sat back to wait. Viper was next, floating in and taking a spot next to Fon; he neither looked at nor greeted either. Lal arrived with Colonnello, and she provided a buffer between Skull and the blond, not that she knew it was no longer necessary. Verde was next and took position near Viper; he looked irritated.

And finally, Reborn arrived, with Tsuna walking beside him. Reborn provided the buffer between Verde and their Sky. Daemon was blending into the scenery somewhere.

“What is this about?” Lal asked after a pregnant pause.

Tsuna smiled and set down the basket he was carrying. “For one, I thought I’d meet you all. For two, I need to air a grievance.” He turned to stare at Verde, the smile slipping away. “I am … annoyed … with your attempt on my life.”

Verde shook his head. “You’ve obviously mistaken me for someone else.”

“Because that’s so easy to do,” Tsuna replied coolly.

“Who are you, anyway?” Verde said, affecting boredom. “The pacifier says one thing, and that can’t be faked, but…”

“You may call me Welkin.”

Verde went pale and his eyes widened before he recovered and wiped any expression off his face. “How the hell was I supposed to know?”

“Ever heard of a little something called research?” Reborn asked snidely. “You attempted to assassinate the Sky Arcobaleno, you fucking moron.”

“I sent you an offer of funding,” Tsuna said, just so Viper and Lal were aware of the circumstances, “as an investment. You came back with a wholly over-the-top response of sending assassins. And then, when they were returned to you, you had an epic temper tantrum that any spoiled toddler would be envious of.

“Now, I let it go at the time. You didn’t know, though you should have been more careful. I couldn’t see that you were working on anything particularly unethical. The people you had as experimental subjects were all mafiosi, flame-active, and had done something against you personally to potentially deserve their fate.”

Verde pulled off an entirely unconvincing shrug. “Then why bring it up now?”

Tsuna smiled in a way that caused Skull to wince. “More recently, you sent assassins after someone under the personal protection of Reborn. Again, for a scientist, you seem to have serious issues with not understanding the concept of research. Had you bothered, you would have known. And at that, you sent two cowards, using optical camouflage, after a boy barely in his teens. That’s pathetic. And you threw another temper tantrum when they were returned to you. Out of all of us, you’re the only one who actually acts like a damn toddler. Maybe you should stick to your playpen and leave the outside world alone.”

Verde’s attempt to look supremely unaffected showed cracks. “It’s not like you can do anything.”

“Oh?” He smiled again, and that time Colonnello grimaced. “I, unlike you, won’t go against the code. But I don’t need to kill you to neutralize you.”

Verde scoffed. “You’re a Sky. You’re probably just as soft as Luce was.”

Tsuna tilted his head and smiled as Verde shot up into the air and hung there. “Oh? Do you make it a habit to insult your peers? Guess I could hang you off the Eiffel Tower as a time out. Or, you know, make your every moment a living hell, so much so that you curl into a little ball, only coming out so you can choke down some food and handle other bodily functions. I’m starting to wonder if you’ve inhaled too many chemicals.”

“How are you doing this?” Verde demanded.

“My oh my,” he said. “Could it be that our little scientist friend is clueless … again?” He clucked his tongue in disappointment. “Guess I could put you into daycare, have you go through the school system again. It’s one thing to stay apart from the rest of us, but to be so detached that you don’t care you who kill? I am so disappointed in you, Verde. So, look. You behave yourself from now on, because if you step one toe over the line, I will spank you like the unruly toddler you appear to be. If you want to know just how ruthless I can be … well … go ahead and test me.”

He set Verde down—gently!—and watched as the man scowled and took off. Daemon flashed him an all clear, so he turned his attention back to the others. “So… How’s everyone doing?”

Reborn was so stone-faced he knew his Sun was in hysterics internally.

“I brought food!” He opened the picnic basket and pulled out a blanket, flicked into place, then sat down and started portioning out food. His guardians took places at, for them, glacial speed, and were joined by a curious Lal and a seemingly indifferent Viper.

Tsuna pulled out a nice cold bottle of strawberry milk and offered it to Viper with a warm smile. Viper’s mouth flattened out from its usual unhappy slant, and he snatched the milk away. He turned that same smile on Lal as he offered her bruttiboni, which Colonnello had helpfully told him she favored. Reborn got the brownies he liked so much, Colonnello got his cookies, Fon got pineapple tarts, and Skull got cheesecake.

There was plenty for everyone, of course. Tsuna was enjoying some dango when Lal said, “You’re _that_ Welkin?”

He nodded, because his mouth was conveniently full.

“You obviously know Reborn.”

‘Way to state the obvious,’ he thought, and swallowed. “Hai. He’s a sartorial powerhouse, so naturally I went to him for advice.”

Lal eyed his jeans, hoodie, and grass-stained canvas sneakers skeptically.

“I wasn’t sure if you were vegetarian or vegan,” he continued, “so I made you fully vegan bruttiboni, just in case.” Another sphere of dango went into his mouth.

She looked down in surprise. “Oh. Just vegetarian. But I—they’re wonderful. Thank you.”

He nodded, swallowed, and said, “I have also have some vegan strawberry shortcake in my basket. I wasn’t certain about Mammon, either, but then I remembered the milk thing and…” He shrugged and slid the third sphere into his mouth and tucked the stick away.

“You must be very good at your chosen work,” Viper said softly.

“I try my best,” he replied. “After a little incident with Reborn I decided, for the most part—” He looked off toward where Verde had fled. “—to not use one of my abilities and did things the old fashioned way.”

Viper somehow managed to convey a brow raise behind his hood.

“I can demonstrate, but it won’t feel very good.”

Viper’s head angled toward Reborn.

“It feels weird,” Reborn said promptly. “Doesn’t hurt or anything, it’s just super creepy.”

Viper sipped more of his milk, then said, “Try me.”

Tsuna nodded and reached up to hold his pacifier, and concentrated. Viper stiffened and his unencumbered hand twitched. The moment he nodded sharply Tsuna released his pacifier. “Basically, I can look in on you. It could be considered a gross violation of privacy, though, so…”

“You could drive Verde to the brink of insanity, or over the edge,” Viper said.

“Hai. I have other ways to neuter him, though, if he chooses to test my patience.”

“Do you have guardians?” Fon asked, simply so that it was not just Lal and Viper asking questions.

“I am not alone,” he said simply, then produced the strawberry shortcake and cut a slice. Movement from Viper saw him offering it to the Mist Arcobaleno. He cut a second slice and kept that for himself. It had taken some doing for him to be satisfied with vegan versions of bruttiboni and the shortcake, but he thought they tasted just fine in the end.

Small talk started up between Colonnello, Fon, and Reborn, so Tsuna happily consumed his shortcake, well aware that Lal and Viper were eyeing him speculatively. A message from Daemon flashed up for him and he nodded, then ate the last strawberry on his plate.

“Well, I have a plane to catch, and my aide is waiting for me, so…” He put the plate and fork away, then quickly made up little care packages with the remaining sweets and handed them around. He got up, brushed any bits of grass off himself, and took hold of the basket’s handle. “It was a pleasure,” he said, then waved before trotting off into the trees.

He met up with Daemon within minutes and they quickly made their escape to the Aérodrome de Pontarlier and the private plane they had rented. For the sake of appearances all his Arcobaleno guardians would be getting home individually.

When they did meet back up at the manor his guardians were all in good humor. “You know, I think you may have won those two over a little,” Skull said.

“If nothing else,” Colonnello added, “I think you made a fair show of what you’d be prepared to do if necessary, without doing more on the spot than provide a little embarrassment.”

“So the toddler comment wasn’t going too far?”

Fon chuckled.

“I figured I could give away the peeking thing since Daemon can spy on those three if necessary. I’d like to think that Verde is seriously considering his options, and that Viper and Lal wouldn’t cause problems.”

“Viper would if Xanxus ever gets free, but not against Welkin,” Colonnello.

“Which makes it a free pass of sorts,” he said. “I can’t very well get pissy at him under those circumstances.”

“I’m still surprised Viper didn’t try to charge you for anything, like taste-testing that shortcake,” Reborn said with a shake of his head.

Skull nodded. “That’s why I think Sora might have won him over a little. He never even said ‘time is money’ like he usually does or stare pointedly at a watch he isn’t wearing.”

Daemon shifted and somehow managed to catch everyone’s attention by doing so. “I have stolen an idea of Verde’s, with Tsuna’s encouragement, and have managed to get it working. Verde calls them decoy puppets. The idea here is to create decoys for all of us to place at our alternate location, so that I do not have to expend so much energy moving shades around.”

“How do they work?” Romeo asked.

“The simulate both flames and things like a heartbeat, and can be operated remotely. You can speak through them, as well. Obviously, they’d be useless for anything other than a diversion. In addition to that, as you have all seen, the earring I provided Welkin has maintained his new appearance without me having to be directly involved. I would like to attempt the same for Tsuna’s guardians.”

Reborn frowned slightly. “You would need a puppet for me, or a construct.”

Daemon nodded. “Depending on circumstances, yes. You can’t very well be Tsuna’s tutor and his Sun Guardian at the same time otherwise.”

“Guess it depends on how obvious it is controlling one.”

“The earrings would, of course, alter your stature. Tsuna did not in the least appreciate my original attempt, as you may recall. However, he has been practicing in that form. If I can get earrings to work, are all of you willing?”

“We kinda have to be,” Skull said. “I don’t want our privacy shattered any more than I think you guys do. And that means dealing with being uncomfortable and adjusting to it when we need to fool people.”

Tsuna looked at each of his guardians in turn, then nodded. “Okay.”


	11. 11: 2015

Reborn wandered into the training room he was using and took a seat. Tsuna noticed his Sun had a peculiar look on his face, but quickly returned to giving his full attention to the spar he was engaged in with Daemon. All of them (but Daemon) were wearing the new earrings his Mist had created and were continuing to hone their skills in their new forms, as uncomfortable as it was. He had wondered where Reborn had gotten off to, but that could wait.

Twenty minutes later he was going through cool-down stretches near his Sun, eyeing him with concern, and alternately watching Romeo and Skull go at it. It had been something of a hilarious moment when Romeo had first tried to create his quarterstaff in his “new” body and it ended up being way too long to get any use out of, not to mention how one bladed end had stabbed into the floor and ruined one of the tatami.

Unfortunately, the next two names drawn from the basin had him back on the floor, that time against Colonnello. They were also trying to ensure that everyone could still fight even when tired, though the effort was directed more at Tsuna, Romeo, and Skull.

Several hours later, after everyone had been in at least one spar, they showered, got dressed, and collapsed in various spots in Tsuna’s office. “What was that expression for?” he asked his Sun.

“Nono sent me a letter,” Reborn said, then frowned. “There’s been a breakout at Vendicare.”

Tsuna managed to check his reaction and tamp it down to a mere curious rise of a brow. “And?”

“Apparently some people recently imprisoned passed around the latest news. I guess they have to keep themselves occupied somehow in there.” Reborn’s frown lingered. “Word got to certain prisoners about a new heir of Vongola.”

“Reborn, don’t make me threaten you with take-out.”

Reborn sighed. “A half dozen Estraneo and two others managed to break out and Nono thinks they’re headed this way, probably following rumors regarding my latest job. And if they do show up, he expects you to take care of the problem.”

“Son of a horker!”

A babble of angry voices rose up and blended into a cacophonous muddle, which ended abruptly when Daemon hissed like a demon fresh out of Yomi. “Gentlemen,” he said warningly.

Tsuna shook his head in abject wonder. The nerve of that old man. “Well, fine. If they come here they can expect to die. Possibly in grisly ways. Or am I supposed to show compassion or something because they couldn’t have been involved in the attack on my mother?”

Reborn shrugged. “Does it matter? They come anywhere near here and they die. This counts as a sanctioned hit, should it come to that.”

“Okay,” he said, “let’s just assume for now that they will. That means we need to be in disguise until this is resolved, which sucks.”

“Just as well I made those earrings, because I’m going to have to have an army of spies out keeping watch.”

“Did the old man say anything about what sorts this bunch are?” Skull asked. “Flame types, weapons, anything?”

Reborn shook his head. “But we are information specialists. We just need to track down this list of names on the order. And, to refresh everyone’s memory, Tsuna’s current guardians are Cloud, Mist, Storm, and Lightning. I’ll be playing tutor and Colonnello can be sneaky.”

“Or keeping an eye on the kids,” Tsuna pointed out. “Though I suppose Byakuran might be willing to stick around for a long visit.”

Colonnello shook his head. “No, it’s fine. Someone does need to keep an eye on them. Hayato is old enough to help out. Let’s keep our friend out of this. The first sign of Estraneo in the area and the kids are all going to come down with a case of stomach flu or something and be kept tucked away behind the manor protections.”

“Thank you,” Romeo said quietly.

The next week was spent on research, and during that time Byakuran informed them that two of the escapees, the “Bloody Twins”, had been recaptured after they slaughtered some random civilians. That left the six Estraneo men. For some reason, they were all Storms.

“I wonder if they have enough resolve left to do more than give me a facial scrub,” Tsuna mused, much to Fon’s amusement.

“Yeah, well, I’m sure they’ve all managed to find guns by now,” Romeo said, setting down one of the profiles.

Daemon suddenly sucked in a breath. “Found them. Just glossed them past some civilians they were about to ‘play’ with.”

Tsuna gave his Mist a look of concern, which he couldn’t see, naturally, because his eyes were closed. “Right. And none of us are old enough to drive. Great.”

Reborn cracked up.

A half hour later they were “innocently” strolling down a mostly disused road in search of a picnic spot. Funny how that was becoming a “thing”. Tsuna stopped dead when six brutish-looking men appeared, and his guardians all bumped into him or each other at the abrupt change in velocity.

The biggest Estraneo laughed harshly and cracked his knuckles. “Look, boys, it’s a baby Vongola and his little friends!”

Reborn made a rude sound.

Tsuna glanced down for a second and noted that his Sun had, for some reason, chosen to hide his pacifier. “Who are you?” he asked flatly.

The leader laughed again and nudged his closest companion. “And it seems the old man didn’t even bother to warn the baby Vongola,” he crowed.

“Look, whoever you are. We’re simply out enjoying the day. Why don’t you just turn around and walk away,” he said, trying to sound nervous.

“Hey,” the leader said sharply. “Your fucking family wiped mine out, so you’re gonna pay, pretty boy.”

Tsuna’s eyes went wide. He looked down at Reborn again and whispered a little too loudly, “These guys are Estraneo?”

Reborn shrugged. “Probably. You should take care of it.”

“But what if normal people get too close?” he protested, keeping one eye on the escapees.

The leader sneered. “You think we give a shit about civilians? The odds of us staying two steps ahead of the Vindice drops with every second. No, little boy, we will kill you and your pathetic guardians, and anyone stupid enough to get in the way.”

He had just opened his mouth to speak again when the guns came out. He didn’t see the point in giving orders, he just materialized kunai and threw. The leader went down a heartbeat later, followed by three others. The remaining two’s eyes went wide with fear and they bolted to the sides, only to be felled by Fon attacking left while Romeo attacked right.

Tsuna blew a flat raspberry. “Okay then. Storm?”

Fon nodded and moved closer to the first pair of bodies, concentrated and disintegrated them, then did the same for the others.

“That was … anticlimactic,” Romeo said.

“I’ll let the Vongola Nono know the contract has been completed. Time to go home,” Reborn said. “A picnic at this point seems a little inappropriate.”

“Yeah.” Tsuna did an about-face and began the walk back to the alternate base.

A week later Reborn reported, “Nono is apparently glowing.”

“Someone coated him with phosphorus?” Skull quipped.

Reborn gave the Cloud a sarcastic smile. “He’s thrilled with your performance, Tsuna,” he said and shook a piece of paper with a flaming orange seal at the top. “He might have put a good word or two about your guardians in there somewhere.”

Tsuna rolled his eyes and sent a look at Daemon.

“Glowing is probably a good description,” the Mist said with a tilt of his head. “Gleeful? No. Very pleased, in any case. He’s been making confirmation noises.”

“I’m not even fifteen yet! Nor am I Catholic,” he added as an afterthought.

Reborn’s mouth twitched.

“Confirming you as incipient Decimo,” Daemon explained ever so patiently, “though he doesn’t seem to actually be gearing up for that so much as mulling it over. After all, you don’t have all your guardians yet.”

Tsuna slumped in his chair and tried to ignore the sound of a boy screaming down the hallway, followed quickly by a girl screaming down the hallway in Mandarin Chinese. “At this rate I’ll be Decimo by the time I’m eighteen. Ugh. We may have outsmarted ourselves, you know. If nobody knows we’re Arcobaleno, we don’t have quite the same intimidation factor when it comes to looming—figuratively speaking—over Nono or that man.”

“True, true,” Colonnello said, “but this way is the best shot we have at preserving our present life, even if we will have to do double the work for eight to ten years, assuming the eldest half-sibling is a Sky.”

“Are we sure wiping out the Vongola Famiglia isn’t an option?” Tsuna whined. “Because I’m sure we could prop Dino up to fill in the gap.” In point of fact, he seemed to recall telling Giotto and the other previous heads that he might well destroy Vongola, and they had still given him their blessing to be Decimo. That option was looking better and better all the time. He remembered the horrible, terrible things he’d had to do as Decimo the last time around. After a quick shudder of despair he noticed Daemon was smirking at him, so he childishly stuck his tongue out.

Daemon’s smirk got wicked.

He thought about what he’d just done, blushed, and looked away.

“Okay, enough flirting,” Reborn said briskly.

Tsuna was plating up lunch when Daemon’s head snapped around to look at him. “I love you, Daemon, you know that, but I am getting a little weirded out by you acting like Regan in the Exorcist.”

Skull cracked up and had to steady himself with one hand before he could finish setting out the cutlery.

Daemon scowled.

“Oh come on, it was a joke!”

“Fine. But yes, I have news.”

“That man found the lost island of Atlantis and was promptly eaten by a chimera?”

“No, sadly. Xanxus got free of his confinement and is now back as the head of the Varia.”

A wine glass hit the floor and shattered just as Reborn strolled in reading a letter and saying, “Huh, Aria is warning me that things might get a little crazy soon.”

Tsuna groaned and finished getting the food ready, then began to ferry plates to the table. Hayato came in with the kids in tow, then rushed to help. Thankfully Skull’s little mishap had happened out of the general flow of traffic, so it could be dealt with after they ate.

A quick meeting was held in Tsuna’s office. “I think,” Reborn said once they were settled and any eavesdropping children were directed away with one of Daemon’s wards, “that we should go visit Dino, to get him up to speed.”

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s see. You, me, Daemon, and…” He looked at Fon and Colonnello, neither of whom had gone yet.

“I will stay here,” Fon said, “to ensure my charges behave themselves.”

Colonnello nodded. “Sure, I’ll go. Would be interesting to see Cavallone Manor.”

Arrangements were made, clothing was packed, children were threatened (it was already a serious downer for them that Tsuna was taking a trip, because someone else had to do the cooking), and they all piled into the car the next morning.

“Sorry for the short notice,” Tsuna said as they took places in Dino’s office.

Dino eyed him funny. “Short? Try extremely short. Your idea of notice was to knock on my front door!”

“For all we know someone is tapping your phone lines,” Colonnello said, “leeching off your internet connection, and selling pictures of you in the shower taken with a very long range telephoto lens!”

Reborn made a rude noise. “Don’t be ridiculous. I used to live here, remember?”

“Okay, okay, settle down,” Tsuna said firmly. “We have a potential situation, and we want you to be aware of it.”

Dino nodded. “And then we can have a proper visit.”

“Right. In case you hadn’t heard yet, Xanxus got free somehow and he’s back as head of the Varia.”

“Oh boy,” Dino said with a sigh. “And from what I know, the possibility exists that he will somehow manage to push the issue of succession.”

“Correct, my cute little former student,” Reborn said. “You need to be aware, on guard, and ready to come south at a moment’s notice.”

Dino nodded again. “Well, considering what he’s already tried, I wouldn’t put it past him to scheme his little black heart out. You having trustworthy backup is always a plan. I had heard there was some Varia operation going on on some island, but the knowledge that Xanxus was back in charge… No.”

“Thank you,” Tsuna said warmly. “Also, if you do need to come south, please be warned that we’ll all look a bit different. We’ve come up with a way to…”

“Consider them costumes,” Daemon said. “We don’t want Vongola or anyone else knowing what we really look like.”

“So you can go back to your real lives at some point,” Romario said.

“Correct. You already know of the alternate location, so that is where you would go, though I don’t see why we couldn’t put you up at Est Manor as before.”

“Okay,” Dino said, “we will have emergency response packs ready. Now, for the important stuff.”

“If you can convince your cooks to bail for the afternoon, yes, I’ll cook dinner for us.”

Dino glowed with happiness. “That, too. But what I meant was, is your current appearance an example of one of Daemon’s costumes?”

“Yep. This is the look for the Sky Arcobaleno. I look too much like my mother and that man might have caught on.”

“Huh. Well… So let’s visit!”

“These are the new earrings I came up with,” Daemon said. “The first set made you all look a little too much like yourselves.”

“True,” Fon said, then went over to a mirror to put his in.

The others followed suit and there were identical exclamations of shock from everyone but Tsuna thirty seconds later. Tsuna turned around and gawked. He now had nearly identical sextuplets for guardians. He could tell which one was Daemon by the hair colour and the fact that he was having hysterics in the corner.

“What the hell?” Colonnello said, his blue hair identifying him. All of them seemed to be based in part off Tsuna’s appearance, but had Reborn’s liquid black eyes and hair in the shades of their flames.

Fon eyed Daemon patiently. “Enjoying your little prank?”

Daemon just laughed harder and slammed his hand down a few times.

The door opened and Byakuran breezed in, stopped dead, and dissolved into a puddle of laughter.

Tsuna rolled his eyes and closed the door again.

“Prank it may be,” Romeo said, “but is it such a bad idea? We sure as hell can’t be identified as ourselves.”

“I vote yes~!” Byakuran managed to get back up and find a chair. “Think how creepy it’d be! You’d be like the Children of the Corn or something.”

“We have really got to stop watching American horror flicks on movie nights,” Tsuna muttered.

Tsuna set the phone down and sighed, then went off to drag his guardians to a training room to work off some steam. He was pissed about a number of things, first and foremost that all this Vongola stuff was negatively impacting his business. If it all went to hell in the end, he supposed he could open a bakery catering to mafiosi with a sideline of killing off the unruly ones.

Several hours later, once they were cleaned up and had regrouped, he said, “Dino called. Apparently that man decided that they were great friends for some reason and Dino could help him deliver the Vongola half-rings.”

“His subordinate, Basil, is going to play decoy,” Daemon said, “not that he’s aware of it.”

‘I swear,’ he thought, ‘so many things stay the same. I wonder if that man still taught Basil an archaic form of Japanese?’

Daemon gave a faint nod. “However, as I’m sure you know, the protections here will prevent that man from ever stepping foot on the property. He’ll have to slum it in a hotel.”

“That won’t stop him from observing the battles,” Tsuna said morosely.

“No, but I can keep him away from you if you like,” Daemon pointed out. “Don’t worry about it. I expect you’ll have some kind of Verde-level confrontation with that man at some point, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” He flashed up a quick message—for Tsuna’s eyes only, presumably—of: i let byakuran know.

“So any second now we could have a lot of civilians in a screaming panic,” Colonnello mused, “because the Varia is not known for it’s cool and collected behavior.”

“More to the point is that this Basil person is going to be trying to find us and has no real hope of it,” Reborn said.

Fon sighed. “I guess it’s time for another picnic.”

“I’m not cooking for that,” Tsuna said tiredly. “We’ll throw some store-bought stuff in a basket, so that if it gets trampled it’s no big loss.”

“I wonder who’ll show up,” Romeo said quietly.

“Maybe Squalo,” Reborn said.

Romeo adopted a look of recall. “He’s the Varia second in command and ran the place while Xanxus was out of commission. Rain, Sword Emperor after defeating Tyr, the previous Sword Emperor, has a fake left hand with attached sword.”

Reborn nodded. “I suggest we play this a bit less competently than when we handled those escapees. Put the onus of effort on CEDEF. Basil is a decoy, so the idea is obviously to fake out whichever Varia does come, to buy time.”

“So you think they’ll get the fake rings, return with them to Varia HQ, and assume they’ve won by default, only to figure out at some point…” At least Reborn was making it easy for him to say things like that.

“Yes.”

“We could just skip the picnic,” Skull said. “I mean, do we really need to conveniently be out and about just to stage a moment of ineptitude?”

“What if the Varia tries to kill this Basil person?” Romeo asked. “Just because he’s an unwitting stooge of that man’s doesn’t mean he deserves to die.”

“Good point,” Skull said with a sigh.

“So, a picnic,” Fon reiterated.

“Fine. Daemon, if you would please go pick up some mass-produced ickiness to put in the basket?”

Daemon nodded and departed, morphing into his proper adult form on the way.

“Hayato will be in charge of our junior division again,” he continued.

Romeo scowled. “Lambo has never quite been the same since that boy strapped him down with duct tape and gave him a haircut.”

“You mean you like it when he flings grenades with wild abandon in the house?” Fon asked disbelievingly. “We all saw what he did to your sitting room when you scolded him for eating an entire crate of grape candy.”

Romeo looked down. “Fine. You may have a point. Lambo can no longer hide stuff in his hair. At least until it grows out.”

The first thing Tsuna had done was confiscate the Ten Year Bazooka when Lambo was upset enough to produce it, distracting the kid with a bundle of grapes. It was tucked away in a box labeled castor oil and shoved into the attic behind one of Daemon’s “wards”. True, Byakuran was no longer bent on world domination, but nobody needed to have visits from the older version of Lambo—or anyone else, for that matter.

And Colonnello was better than Valium when it came to calming someone down. Just a little Rain Flames applied the right way and Lambo behaved himself, at least for a little while. Romeo was having his own effect on the chaotic cow, and Lambo was eager to emulate his beloved Daddy, so with time Tsuna expected Lambo to become a mostly-functioning member of society far sooner than in his previous life.

His phone chirped so he checked his text messages. Dino was letting him know they were preparing to head south in the morning and that Basil would be leaving at around the same time, though from a different location.

“Heads up, guys,” he said. “We can expect the show to start tomorrow afternoon.”

There was a park on the edge of the city that was _oddly_ avoided by the masses that day, though there were a few hardier souls who braved the area to have a picnic of their own. Daemon had set up redirections with some holes in them, to limit the number of potential civilian casualties or potential visits to the hospital for reasons of sudden, crippling insanity.

Tsuna and his guardians (a construct was playing the part of “Sun”) rolled on in with a picnic basket being pulled along in a red wagon.

“It’s oddly quiet today,” Daemon said, looking around. “How about over there?”

Tsuna nodded and changed course, reading the message flashed up in front of their eyes as he walked. Basil was getting nearer, and so was Squalo. They took up positions under a huge oak tree and he opened the basket. Daemon had purchased some stuff from the local bakery in addition to the mass-produced ickiness, so they could at least have a snack before the show started. He grabbed a tart from the tray on top and started munching.

He had just finished it and was contemplating having another when a “stranger” hastened by and hauled him along. Tsuna stubbornly dug in his heels, causing Basil to do a face-plant into the grass. “Who are you?” he demanded quietly.

Basil pushed himself up and shook his head to clear it, then turned a wide-eyed look on him. “Young master! I have something for you, but it must be kept safe from—”

And as if summoned, Squalo appeared. “You!”

Basil grabbed ahold of his arm again and started dragging. Tsuna found himself behind another huge tree moments later and a box shoved into his hands. Out of habit he refused to accept and the box hit the grass a second later. “Who are you?” he cried. “And why are you trying to give me things!?”

Basil groaned softly and grabbed the box so he could tuck it into his pocket. “Perhaps that will be sufficient?” he muttered. “No, that would—oh dear.”

Squalo could be heard approaching, and Tsuna expected the turf would never again be the same if those sword strokes meant anything. He took the opportunity to hasten back to his guardians, who were eyeing events with bemused expressions.

“So, who’s the crackpot?” Romeo asked.

Tsuna shrugged in deceitful denial and took another tart as Basil whipped out his weapon and began to battle Squalo. “I considered screaming out, ‘I need an adult!’ but decided against it.”

Daemon snickered and checked his phone, then flashed up another message: dino will be here shortly to save the day.

Reborn twitched a finger at Tsuna, so he leaned against the branch his Sun was perched on. Reborn whispered, “I’m augmenting Basil a bit, just to make sure he lasts long enough. He’s decently trained, though, I’ll give that man that much credit.”

He nodded. None of them had ever actually seen Basil, not even Reborn, so as far as they were concerned the teen _was_ a crackpot. That was their excuse, and they were sticking to it. The civilians had already all fled, so they were out of danger, at least, though it did mean it was likely the police would be arriving shortly.

“Well, Squalo is Varia, so… The fact that Basil is holding up this well really says something,” he whispered back. “But seriously, how could anyone possibly assume we’d just divine who the kid is? That man didn’t even bother to forward a picture. For all I knew he could have been trying to get me to hold on to his drug stash.”

Fon overheard and snickered.

“He really likes saying that word, doesn’t he,” Romeo complained. “I take it you have be certifiable to even qualify for an interview with the Varia?”

“Yep,” Colonnello said. “And speak at least seven languages. Pig Latin doesn’t count.”

Dino chose that moment to appear with his men and as he passed by their tree he waved. “Hey, little brother. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Tsuna had another tart, managing to grab the last one before Skull could, and smiled triumphantly before he bit into it.

“I will get you back for that,” Skull promised. “I will hurt you so bad. You will rue the day!”

He scoffed. They were about fifty-fifty in the shooter they liked to play.

Dino came back and looked in the basket, then frowned.

“Don’t worry, Dino-nii,” he said, and leaned closer when an arm wrapped around his shoulders. “I’ll make us all something decent.” He noticed that man enter the park and frowned. “The sooner the better. Let’s pack up and go, guys.”

“Should we grab the crackpot?” Romeo asked, eyeing the unconscious Basil.

“Uh, sure,” he said. “We can put him in the wagon, I guess.”

Romeo and Romario went off to drag Basil to their group, dump him in the wagon (Daemon grabbed the basket), and they all headed back to the alternate house. Reborn sat at the head of the wagon and kept a hand on the younger Rain, shaking his head every so often.

At the house Basil was stripped down, had all the blood washed off, and chucked into a spare bed to sleep it off, though Romario also checked him over with his flames to see if Reborn had missed anything. After that they all trooped off to the kitchen to talk while Tsuna started cooking a proper meal.

Dino produced the real box of Vongola half-rings and set them on the island. “Yay. You’re not going to have much time, you know. Not that you need much, but still.”

Tsuna nodded. “Different story if I was still in Japan, but yeah. We’ve done our homework. We know exactly how they fight, and we’re expecting them to try to pull some seriously underhanded moves.”

“That man is a royal pain in the ass,” Dino complained. “He strutted in like he was my best friend, told me how it was going to be, and more or less ordered me to haul ass south. Our families are allies, for fuck’s sake! We’re not Vongola’s subordinates! Please tell me you’re going to fire his ass once you’re made Decimo.”

He smiled. “Yes. After all, what’s the point of an external advisor you don’t know and can’t possibly trust.”

“You already have someone in mind?”

He grinned wickedly. “Yes. But that’s all I’ll say on the matter for now.” He was just getting ready to dish up some baked penne when Basil stumbled into the kitchen looking confused.

“I have failed,” Basil moaned.

“No you didn’t,” Dino replied. “I hate to break it to you, kid, but you were a decoy.” He tapped the box on the island.

“And you’re probably a hungry decoy,” Tsuna said, “so grab a seat at the table.”

Basil blinked a few times and nodded. He pulled out a chair and sat down, still looking confused.

Once everyone was set with pasta, salad, and bread, Tsuna said, “Have at it, guys.”

Everyone dove in, though Basil was a bit hesitant. He quickly enough had a bite of his pasta and whimpered. Tsuna eyed him curiously as he chewed on a forkful of salad.

“This is so good,” Basil said. “Thank you very much for including me in your meal. And for healing me. I tried my hardest to stand firm against Squalo, but…”

“You’re welcome,” Tsuna said. “I still don’t have a clue who you are, though.”

Basil’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“Oh, that’s right,” Dino said. “This is Basil. He’s a member of CEDEF.”

Reborn looked Basil up and down appraisingly. “Aren’t you a little young to be an agent?”

“Uh…”

“Basil, you already seem to know Tsuna,” Dino continued, and then introduced the guardians.

It was about then that the Rain finally seemed to wake up to the fact that all of Tsuna’s guardians were identical except for the hair. “Did I sustain a head injury?”

“You have a problem with sextuplets?” Reborn asked dangerously. “Are you questioning my ability to find loyal and skilled guardians for the incipient Vongola Decimo?”

Basil went pale and shook his head fervently.

“You can blow someone up later, Reborn,” Tsuna called down the table. “We only just got this fellow healed, after all. At least let him get a good meal into himself before you decide to go all Terminator.”

Reborn sent a playful glare his way and went back to eating.

A minute or so of silence passed before Basil spoke up again. “I was a decoy?”

Dino nodded, giving Basil a sad look. “Sorry, man. Sawada gave me the real set of rings and sent you off with some fakes. I’m just glad we arrived in time to make sure you lived, and still had all your limbs. I mean, Squalo is incredibly skilled, and really doesn’t have a problem with the idea of killing. They are an assassination group, after all. I really don’t get what Sawada was thinking, but…” He shrugged and forked up more pasta.

“He was probably hoping to stall,” Tsuna said for Basil’s benefit. “That guy with the girlishly long hair will go back to what’s-his-face, hand over the fakes, and we get some extra time before they’re discovered. I had no idea the head of CEDEF would throw one of his men under the bus like that, though. Seems awfully harsh.”

“He—no, that cannot be it,” Basil protested.

The entire table looked at him with pity, shaking their heads. “You can always come work for me,” Dino offered. “I mean, I already have a Rain, but I could always use more good men.”

“But he’s always been such a good master to me,” Basil further protested.

Romeo looked ill. “Master? What the hell kind of a kinky relationship do you have with that man?”

“I think he means more like a sensei,” Tsuna ‘explained’.

“Oh, I see. Still…”

“Personally, I am somewhat peeved that CEDEF did not bother to warn any of us,” Fon said in his mildly reproving way. “That says much in terms of trust, or the lack thereof. It’s hardly conducive to a good working relationship when we’re left in the dark and expected to all blossom a talent in prescience.”

Basil’s expression just kept getting more and more woebegone, though the corners of his mouth twitched up every time he shoved another forkful of food into his mouth. “Where is the boss, anyway?”

Reborn stared. “None of us even know what he looks like, kid.”

“But—”

“Hell, I’ve only known what he looks like for less than a day,” Dino said.

“But—”

“Someone actually tried to tell me the guy is my father,” Tsuna said with a scornful laugh, “but that’s patently ridiculous. I mean, come on! What kind of a father would abandon his child like that to nearly be murdered by Estraneo along with his mother?”

But—”

“Right, who’s ready for dessert?” Tsuna asked cheerfully.

Fifteen minutes later the table was being cleared and dishes were being washed. Basil’s phone chirped insistently. He pulled it out and accepted the call. “Basil here.” A pause. “I am well, sir… Uh, actually, I have no idea where I am… Yes, he’s here… Yes, they are… Yes, sir, I’ll meet you there… Ciao.”

Daemon swept in disguised as Sebastian and hustled Basil away before he could say another word and returned half an hour later. “I think we may have short-circuited his brain.”

“Good,” Fon said.

“He spent the entire ride to the hotel mumbling to himself about how that man couldn’t possibly have done those things, and was planning to ask a lot of hard questions. But, given how persuasive that man can be… Only time will tell.”

“So we keep reinforcing our point of view,” Colonnello said. “From what Lal has said the kid’s all right, but he’d be even better if he didn’t look up to that man so much. Of course, Lal would be better off if she didn’t look up to that man so much, too.”

As per usual, once Dino and his men were in their rooms for the night, Tsuna and his had a meeting. “So,” he said, gazing at Daemon.

“Keeping a half dozen spies in place around Nono.”

He nodded and opened the box. Seven half-rings were inside. He removed the Sky ring and handed the box to Reborn. Once everyone had their rings he said, “A part of me says we should wear them on our toes, but that would be asking for awkward questions.”

Daemon nodded. “Yes. The rings must be verified prior to each battle. The problem is going to be figuring out where the battles will take place, and which one will be first. And we have yet to receive any notice from Nono, which I find appalling.”

“I am more than a little pissed off myself,” Reborn said. “I didn’t think Nono was so petty that he’d let me fly blind over a little something like custody.”

“Or maybe that man has been filling his head with made up nonsense,” Colonnello offered.

They wrapped things up and trundled off to bed, knowing there really wasn’t much more that could be said.

The next day Daemon rolled his eyes and said, “Xanxus knows they’re fakes. And… Right. They’re discussing their plan to kidnap Nono. Xanxus did pay attention to how Nono does that seal, so he’s getting a fake lined up, and will create the necessary documents to get this party started.”

“Kidnap?” Fon asked.

“Yes. They plan to use him as a power source for a Gola Mosca, who will be acting as the Varia Cloud.”

“Thoughts on how long before we rescue the old man?” Tsuna said. “He won’t learn anything if we get him too soon, and they might have to bust him out at least once a day to make sure he’s fed and all.”

“That’s an excellent point,” Skull said. “Daemon, is it possible to ensure that the Cloud battle isn’t first? From what you’ve said we’ll know what all the following battles will be a day in advance, but…”

Daemon frowned in thought. “I think so, yes. But it depends on us getting official notice of the battles. The Cervello should appear for that. Once they do I can tag them with spies and manipulate the situation.”

“So we need a replacement,” Fon stated. “Think Byakuran might have a prisoner we could use?”

“I’ll ask,” he said. “If he doesn’t we’re going to have to scramble for someone who actually deserves to die. We also have to go over our game plan in terms of—”

Romeo arched a brow.

“Well, do we just wipe the floor with them? I want to know what you all think.”

“We win four battles, we win the rings,” Reborn stated. “You saying that makes me wonder if they’re planning to throw some of them for the purpose of actually getting to the Sky battle, which is always last.”

“I’m also wondering if they plan to kill instead of defeat,” Skull said.

“Just as well I’m not an Arcobaleno if I do end up going against Mammon.”

“How about this?” Romeo said. “We base it off when the Cloud battle happens. We win the first three, let’s say…”

“And if Cloud is next, it’s a lock,” Daemon continued. “But if not, we consider throwing the next one in order to get to the Cloud.”

Tsuna considered what had happened the last time. Cloud had been sixth, which worked out beautifully in terms of Xanxus’s plans. They still had no actual proof that Xanxus was adopted. Nono had squirreled that information away somewhere and Daemon’s spies had not found it, or it’d been destroyed. The only way for that to come out was to let Xanxus and his men think they had the upper hand during the Sky battle.

He honestly wondered, again, just how much the Varia had pulled their punches during those battles. Lussuria probably had not been faking and to have his knee plate destroyed? Levi had only won because Lambo had fucked around talking too much. Hayato had almost won, but he was inclined to think that win was genuine on Bel’s part, just not as easy as he had expected it to be. The idea of Squalo purposely taking a dive after becoming the Sword Emperor was ludicrous, but he supposed he could see it happening if Xanxus had ordered it. Mammon had lost due to arrogance.

And Gola Mosca? That was meant to be a loss, and a nail in Tsuna’s coffin.

If they just bulldozed through the battles, then what? How would Xanxus scramble to respond? To react? Would he just give the signal for Mosca to go out of control and kill them all? A terrible accident that left the way clear for Xanxus to claim victory? Tsuna still had no clue why the man had thought the Sky ring would accept him the last time around, or was that part never something he knew about?

He realized after a moment that Reborn was gently shaking his arm and eyeing him with concern. “You in there?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I guess I was lost in my thoughts. It’s just frustrating not really knowing what Xanxus has in mind. If he’s trying to maneuver to a Sky battle or just kill us all one by one. But if he plans to use Nono for Gola Mosca, what are the odds that he means to lose that battle, so he can accuse us of murdering the man?

“Why the hell doesn’t he have a proper Cloud in the first place? I’ve seen how the Varia is constructed. Why didn’t he promote someone from the next tier down? Why use a machine? Is it rigged somehow?” He frowned and ran a hand through his hair.

“Is your intuition saying anything?” Reborn asked.

“It’s—” How could he say it that didn’t come across as suspicious? “For some reason I’m remembering a conversation from ages ago. Skull and Fon were there, and Fon asked if I was prescient.”

“I remember that,” Fon said slowly. “You said something about Xanxus’s appearance, how he doesn’t resemble Nono or his brothers.”

Tsuna nodded. “Right, that’s it. Why it’s bugging me again now…”

“What if he’s not?” Daemon said in a way that suggested a sudden revelation or a wild idea. “What if that’s the reason behind the coup d’état?”

“What?” Romeo said. “That he might be adopted? Could that be it? An illegitimate child would be looked down on, maybe, but still be in the running.”

Reborn pulled out a gun and swiftly disassembled it. “That would explain a lot,” he said slowly as he began cleaning the pieces. “And it would mean this is as much about Tsuna as it is about Nono. Revenge on the man who never told him the truth, who lied by omission, and gave him false hope, and against an actual blood member of the Vongola who, to him, is being handed power on a silver platter.”

“A previously clueless, civilian-raised teenager,” Skull added.

“Yeah, because any of this shit is my fault,” he snapped, then sighed. “Sorry.”

Skull bounded over and wrapped him in a hug. “It’s been a weird day. How about we just go to bed and start picking stuff apart again tomorrow. We have to wait until Daemon picks something up for most of it, anyway.”

Tsuna nodded. “Okay.”

“I am confused,” he said slowly.

“What’s there to be confused about?”

“They had no idea who I was or why I was there? Did no one warn them about the rings?” He watched Iemitsu’s face carefully.

Iemitsu laughed heartily. “I told Dino.”

“…And?”

“Dino was trained by Reborn, so he should have told him, and then Reborn would have explained it.”

‘What? What the hell kind of explanation is that?’ he thought. ‘It’s not Cavallone’s job! Was the man supposed to pull that idea out of thin air? “Um…”

“The rings got delivered, right?”

“Well, yes,” he admitted, or so Dino had said.

Iemitsu shrugged and grinned. “Problem solved!”

‘But what about me? I was fighting for my life against the Sword Emperor! It was only him slicing through my jacket and causing the box to go flying that…’ He looked away, feeling doubt for the first time ever in his—no, not his master—his boss. Had the man really—what had the young master said?—thrown him under the bus? ‘No, I can’t call him that. I shall have to ask if I—what I should call him, how I should refer to him.’

Iemitsu had already told him he expected Basil to help train … Tsuna. But he was realizing that he didn’t even know how to contact him. He wandered away to his room without saying anything more and prepared to shower before bed. As he undressed he heard a crinkling sound and frowned. A slip of paper was in his pocket, with a phone number on it.

His frown deepened. It absolutely had not been in his pocket previously, so the only ones who could have done so were—he grabbed his phone and entered the number into his contacts list and gave it a name of YM for the time being. It could have been whoever healed him, or it could have been the man who drove him to the hotel. Either way, it was someone connected to the Decimo.

Basil shredded the paper into the shower and watched as the tiny pieces swirled away, then locked his phone and stepped under the water. They had cleaned him up, but even though his clothes had been given a quick going over they were more or less hopeless, and he felt dirty having had to wear them again.

Assuming his boss didn’t command his attention in the morning, perhaps he would wander off to see the town and call that number. And if he did, the day after that.

Daemon’s mirth caught the attention of everyone. His phone had just rung and, after glancing at the display, he cackled and accepted the call on speakerphone. “Sebastian speaking.”

“Oh, um, ciao. This is Basil…”

“Yes. I trust you arrived safely at your hotel room.”

“Yes, thank you for the ride. It was very kind of you.”

“Tsuna asked that I ensure your safety,” Daemon said smoothly.

There was a long pause. “The boss mentioned that he expected me to assist with training…”

Tsuna nodded.

“I see. If you tell me where you are I can come pick you up.”

“Um… I’m right near a place called Pizzeria Schirra…”

“Yes, I know it. I will be by soon.”

“Thank you. Ciao.”

“Ciao.” Daemon disconnected and tucked the phone away. “Well well.”

“I would say … provisional access? I’m very curious to see just how…”

Daemon nodded. “We’ll see. I’ll return shortly and then loop back around as Mist.” He morphed into Sebastian and left.

“So…”

“This is nice,” Skull said. “Basil is supposed to help train … you? And this is the first we’re hearing of it? Strategically speaking—”

“We need to keep him off balance,” Colonnello said.

“Seduce him with food,” he said.

“Get him to talk about himself,” Fon added.

“And if all else fails, intimidate the hell out of him,” Reborn said.

Romeo sighed. “Or one of us could try sparring with him so Tsuna could get a better idea of his skill.”

Skull nodded. “You can do that.”

“Okay. I need to get something ready, then,” he said, starting toward the kitchen. “It’s almost lunch time, anyway.” He pulled some sauce out of the freezer and set it to thaw in a pan, then began making dough.

Romeo ghosted up behind him and peered over his shoulder.

“If you want, can you get pizza toppings? I decided on stromboli.”

“Sure thing, boss man.”

They worked together in companionable silence and got everything ready for the oven. It had just been closed up when Basil was escorted in and abandoned to their tender mercies. “Ciao, Basil,” he greeted as he moved to wipe his hands on a kitchen towel. “I hope you’re hungry.”

“…Ciao. Hungry?”

Tsuna gave him a patient look. “It’s getting close to lunch. When I heard you were near a pizzeria it decided me on what to make. Can I get you something to drink?”

Daemon drifted in and went straight to the refrigerator. He pulled out two cans of Sprite and handed one to Tsuna, the other to Basil. He then grabbed two more and handed one to Romeo.

Basil stared at the can in his hand. “Thank you.”

Tsuna cracked open his can and took a sip. “I trust you’re well.”

“Oh… Yes, thank you.”

“Romario and Sun made sure you were healed up from that little altercation, in case you were wondering.” At the look of slightly confused inquiry on Basil’s face he added, “And Storm did what he could for your clothing. It’s not easy separating blood from fabric, or so he tells me.”

“…I had wondered. I must thank them.”

Tsuna smiled and gestured at the bar stools for the island, a not so subtle hint. “So, this is Lightning,” he said, giving Romeo a fond pat on the arm, “and Mist. And you’re welcome to call me Tsuna.”

Basil smiled nervously for some reason and inclined his head. “I am pleased to meet you both,” he said, then slid onto a stool.

Tsuna grabbed the next one down and sipped more of his drink. “So what’s it like, being at CEDEF? Nothing classified, I mean. Just generally.”

“…The people are nice.”

He detected a bit of strain in the Rain’s voice, but he smiled warmly. “Reborn told me Lal Mirch works there. Is she nice?”

“Oh yes, but strict. She always wants people to do their best.” Basil’s lips pursed for a moment. “I think she’s secretly a bit of a softy.”

Tsuna grinned. “I think most people have a soft spot. Reborn has a soft spot for—” He tilted his head as a bullet whizzed by. “You’re fixing that!”

Reborn scoffed rudely and strutted in. “Don’t tell people my secrets. And of course I’ll get it fixed. I’m not a barbarian.”

He set his soda down and went to fix an espresso for his Sun. “No, you’re way too snappy a dresser to be one,” he replied. “Someday I hope to reach your heights of sartorial splendor.”

“And then ignore it?” Reborn challenged.

Tsuna handed over the espresso with a grin. “Of course! I like casual clothing.” He got back on his stool and drank more of his soda.

Reborn shook his head sadly and popped up onto a stool himself, then nodded at Romeo and Daemon, who were leaning against the counter. “Someday…”

“I have this weird urge to see what you’d look like in a shinigami costume, or maybe as a ninja.”

Reborn blinked at him and shook his head again. “What’s for lunch?”

“Stromboli.”

Reborn hummed happily.

“And yes, I made yours special. All the good stuff. An entire pepper, just for you.”

Reborn hummed again and sipped his drink. “Rolled, or…?”

Basil, meanwhile, was developing a severe look of confusion and had yet to open his soda.

“Rolled, yes.” He glanced over at the clock. “Mist, will you…”

Daemon nodded and went to press an inconspicuous button near the door. A chime sounded throughout the house. Romeo started getting plates out, cutlery, napkins, and glasses. By the time everyone gathered the table was set and Tsuna was getting the food out of the oven and plating it. Everyone swooped by to grab a plate—Reborn’s had a little sun cut into the crust—and then take a seat.

His Sun—not to be confused with the construct “Sun”, who was “eating” an illusion—did not wait for the usual invitation and cut into his stromboli as soon as he was situated. It was probably just as well that Basil was seated on the same side of the table, because then he couldn’t see Reborn’s expression.

Lunch passed with generic, casual conversation and soon enough there was a quick assembly line to wash up. Tsuna hauled Basil off to the living room and gently bullied him into playing a video game, ignoring any protests voiced his way in the kindest way possible. It was only after an hour that he “gave in” and stopped, at which point Romeo said, “So, Basil, are you interested in a spar?”

The Rain blinked owlishly, then nodded. “Sure.”

“Great!” Romeo hopped up, waited for Basil to stand, then hustled him off to a training room with everyone else following. Romeo showed Basil where to change. The rest of them took seats on the benches and waited.

The spar stopped approximately one second after it started when Romeo produced his quarterstaff and Basil’s jaw dropped. “How did you do that?”

Romeo shrugged. “It’s just flames.”

“Yes, but—”

Romeo’s brow went up and he released the quarterstaff, then created it again. “It’s not that hard,” he said blandly.

Tsuna bit his lip to keep from giggling.

“Tsuna taught me how to do it.”

Basil’s head whipped around to stare at him, so he nodded. Tsuna stood up long enough to create a quarterstaff of his own, then released it and sat back down. It gave away a secret, but even if Basil told that man, it was the wrong weapon. Just because his kunai were his primary weapon did not mean they were his only one. He was an avid reader of comics and manga, after all. He was willing to take inspiration from just about any source.

“So…”

Basil jerked his head back around to Romeo and nodded. “Right.” He brought his weapon up and began.

Tsuna watched with interest. Basil was good, but he was not Arcobaleno good. Romeo wasn’t Arcobaleno good, but he had been training with them long enough as to certainly be Varia Quality and would only get better with time. He pushed Basil around with calm deliberation, blocking everything that was thrown at him and herding the Rain around the mats like he owned the boy.

When Basil started looking tired enough that he might lose muscle control, Tsuna coughed quietly. Romeo immediately backed off until Basil stopped, then released his weapon. “Good fight.”

Basil nodded, his chest heaving. “Yes, thank you.”

“Cool down,” Reborn ordered. “And since we’re in here, Rain, Storm, go get changed.”

Basil was treated to a lovely display of two martial artists dancing around the room and up the walls as they clashed, and then again when Tsuna and Skull went at it. Daemon covered Reborn in illusion long enough to effect a swap, so that he and “Sun” could have their turn. The only one of them who showed any flames was Romeo.

After a shower and getting dressed they all trooped to the kitchen again to wait on dinner. Tsuna got out the jumbo-sized wok and started preparing ingredients for stir fry.

“Do you do all the cooking?” Basil finally asked.

Tsuna looked up long enough to smile and say, “Yep.”

“But why?”

He paused in his cutting and looked up again, his smile missing. “My mother taught me how to cook. That’s the only reason I need.”

Skull broke the tension by breezing by to get the rice cooker going.

Basil was quiet again after that. He sat there and listened as the group talked amongst themselves, and watched as Reborn tried to steal peppers and Tsuna stabbed him once before pushing an entire one his way and getting a clean knife.

“We need to talk about this stabbing habit of yours,” Reborn complained playfully before getting his own knife and carving off a slice of pepper to eat.

Tsuna giggled and shook his head. “One bad habit begets another.”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault, is it?”

“Just an observation, Reborn,” he said cheerfully, then started cooking.

They were shortly enough eating, and not long after that “Sebastian” swept in to escort Basil back to the hotel. Basil gave a little start on seeing him and nodded. “I have had an enjoyable day, Tsuna. Thank you all.”

Tsuna smiled. “It was lovely to have you here.” The second they were in the clear he exhaled and looked at his guardians.

“I think that went well,” Fon opined. “He never really got a chance to push any agenda, he saw some of our skill, and I think got a better feel for the dynamic here.”

“And a better feel for Tsuna in particular,” Daemon said. “He was regularly mystified. Tsuna is nothing like he expected, not from what of that man’s description, and not based on that man’s own personality.”

“Well he is delusional,” Tsuna pointed out. “One of my clearest memories of that man is him flinging me in the air repeatedly, despite me shrieking in fear, and calling me his little tuna fish.”

Skull frowned. “There was a wooden fish on your door.”

He nodded. “And I was too short to rip it off. Besides, I think my mother would have noticed and said something.” He paused, suddenly remembering something. “Viper’s thing… Uh… What the anklets prevent.”

“Thoughtography,” Reborn said.

“Yeah, that.”

“He has not yet tried it,” Daemon said, “but I see where you’re going with this.”

“He’s going to be awfully suspicious if he tries and can’t find any of us in order to force an early confrontation for a ring,” Colonnello said.

“So, anklets off? Or not? Because you guys don’t have names. Is he going by image or name or…?”

Daemon and Reborn exchanged a look. “As far as I know,” Daemon said slowly, “it’s by image or concept, not a specific name.”

“Do you think it’d pick up my clone?” Reborn asked.

Daemon shrugged helplessly. “I have no idea.”

“Do we actually care if they realize they can’t track us that way? The protections on both houses already block this kind of thing. We don’t actually have a need to leave the house except to get supplies, which can be handled by a construct. If they have spies out—lower tier members—they won’t see us out and about anyway. None of them have seen any of us.” He paused. “Unless Viper can lift images out of Basil’s brain without him being aware of it.”

He remembered Levi and his trio of men going after Lambo. Viper had likely given them help, though he had no way of knowing that for certain. What disturbed him about a repetition was the idea of that man coming to the rescue in any way. “Okay, we keep them on. Whenever the notice is delivered and the Cervello decide on the venue and first battle, Basil can be collected to deliver it. We don’t have to play by their rules.”

All his guardians nodded.

Basil was getting fed up with his boss. While it never happened directly in his presence, his boss had a habit of ranting when he was alone, but never seemed to account for sound leakage through the walls. His boss, apparently, was utterly confounded by his lack of face time with Tsuna. For some reason the man expected his son to want to spend time with him, to look up to him, and to eagerly request training.

‘Why?’ he wondered. Tsuna had, by all accounts, last seen Iemitsu when he was three? He was beginning to understand the scornful laughter during that first visit. ‘He doesn’t even spend much time with his three other sons, and they don’t live in a different country like Tsuna did originally. It’s like he’s married to his job. He spent more time with _me_ , and now I’m thinking that’s a little creepy.’

A sharp knock came at his door, which was then opened.

‘Thanks for respecting my privacy,’ he groused.

“Basil!”

“Yes, sir?”

“Orders have come in. The Scramble Battles are confirmed. I’ll need you to deliver this—” Iemitsu waved a scroll around. “—to my little tuna fish, along with this—” He waved a second scroll. “—with information about the venue, various other details, stuff like that.”

He stepped forward to accept the scrolls with a nod, then brushed past his boss and departed the suite as quickly as possible, pretending not to hear the words called after him. He exited the hotel and hurried down various streets until he got to that same pizzeria, then pulled out his phone.

Tsuna looked the first scroll over with jaded eyes. He was well aware of the fact that Xanxus had been the one to dictate its contents, and to place the Sky Flame seal at the top. Nono was currently inhabiting Gola Mosca and Mammon was annoyed at his thoughtography being blocked for some reason. He set the scroll aside and unrolled the second one.

He almost laughed; the venue was a school. The battles would start in three days. As Basil was sitting there still, he flicked a look at Daemon, thinking, ‘I suppose a weather forecast would not go amiss.’

He got a slight nod in response.

“I can only assume there are going to be a whole lot of illusionists at work.”

“What do you mean?” Basil asked.

He handed the second scroll over. “Battles can be pretty destructive. If these are battles by flame type, I have to wonder exactly what we’ll be facing, and just how much damage will be done to the school. I get that they can’t just toss up an appropriate building in a few days, but… Well, whatever. It’s a civilian facility, so I expect they’ll be fixing whatever breaks.”

Basil finished reading the scroll and nodded, then handed it back with a thoughtful look.

“Unfortunately, we’ll be flying blind on the first battle,” Reborn said. “We’ll scout out the school in its entirety so we know what to expect in terms of layout.”

“You don’t attend school?” Basil said.

Tsuna shook his head. “We have tutors. It attracts too much attention to have sextuplets in a public school.”

Basil shook his head. “How did you even know you were a Sky?”

“I fell out of a tree.”

“Huh?”

“As I fell my hands were covered in flames, not that it did me any good. Hitting the ground hurt.” He shrugged. “But I’d seen them, and I kept trying to get them to come back. You should know as well as anyone what resolve can accomplish. But knowing I was a Sky? That came later. I trained myself, and that made it fairly easy to use the same methods to train others.”

“But… Are you saying you can already go into Dying Will Mode?”

Tsuna concentrated and felt the change in his eyes and could see the flickering flames dancing at his forehead. He waved his hands through them and they caught flame, too, centered on his Sky rings. “Yes.” Then he released it all.

Basil looked confounded again. He reached into his pocket and removed a small container that Tsuna recognized as holding Dying Will Pills. “I need these to do that.”

“Drugs?” Romeo said, his nose wrinkling.

“Um, not exactly. I don’t actually know what they’re made of, just that Vongola developed them.”

“Lightning?” he prompted. Not being an Arcobaleno or hundreds of years old, Romeo was a far better test of Tsuna’s methodology.

Romeo nodded and, while it took him longer to summon the necessary resolve (and because he didn’t have a pacifier to make his body act like a flame conductor), he was still able to enter Dying Will Mode and set his hands aflame. He released it a few seconds later, but he was noticeably tired.

Basil tucked the container away and slumped. “Can—will you teach me to do that? Please?”

Tsuna smiled warmly. “I can sure try.”


	12. 12: 2015-2029

Basil moved in with them for the duration. Tsuna took him to one of the training rooms and got settled on the tatami. He took him through the same exercises he had with Dino and Romeo. Basil seemed concerned that he was taking away time Tsuna could be using for training, but he simply said, “Don’t worry about it. This is about you right now, and working yourself up about that is only going to make this harder.”

Unfortunately for Basil, he was well indoctrinated into the shortcut methods. It took several hours just for him to spark flames off his ring, and his expression clearly showed just how much it upset him. Tsuna had to keep reminding him to let it go for the time being and focus on the actual exercise. “Consider it an exercise in meditation if you want,” he further explained. “Forget everything else for right now. Make your resolve dance flames on the ring.”

When he did finally manage it Basil’s breath came out in a whoosh, only for his face to fall when the flames winked out.

“Not uncommon,” Tsuna said. “This isn’t something you get and turn it on and off like a light switch at first. You have to earn it, to prove your resolve. So, you practice this at least an hour a day, perhaps before bed. Okay? When you can do it reliably we can talk about the next step. For now, let’s get you set up with a room.”

When the day came they already knew it would be the Rain Battle. A combination of weather and Daemon’s meddling. The forecast, if it held true, would dictate the Lightning Battle second, in theory. The original Rain Battle had been held inside, but Daemon’s intel was pointing at the roof of one of the larger buildings on campus.

“Sebastian” drove them all to the school and waited at the car as Tsuna, his men, and Basil prepared to meet with the Cervello. Romario was present as “Sun” so that Reborn could be himself, and Dino was masquerading as one of their supposed trainers. Both were wearing Daemon-created earrings for the event.

“We are the Cervello,” one of the two women said. They looked exactly as Tsuna expected; mid-length, pale pink hair, tanned skin, questionable clothing, and black masks with white eye screens. And raincoats, of course. Given that the Cervello as an organization were generally illusionists, it made sense how they could look identical. They had already noticed the other members of the organization quietly lurking in order to keep the civilians unaware and out of the way.

“Tonight’s Scramble Battle will be for the Rain rings. Please proceed along the marked path to the arena we have prepared.” She gestured at a blue ribbon, and then to one further along.

Tsuna and Reborn exchanged a look, then followed the path, which indeed led them up to the expected roof. The roof itself had raised sections on each short side with vents sticking out and a chain-link fence stretched along the three open edges. Tsuna suspected students used the space to hang out or eat on nice days, not unlike they had at his school in Namimori.

The Varia was already assembled on one of the raised sections so he led his group to the other one and stepped up. Xanxus sneered when Tsuna turned to face them, but he ignored that.

Unfortunately, Iemitsu was present, and on their riser. “My little tuna fish!” he cried.

Tsuna tried so very hard not to wince. He was grateful that his guardians were protecting his sides and back.

Thankfully one of the Cervello there began to speak. “Thank you for assembling. I will now explain the conditions for the Rain Battle. The rooms below this roof are flooded and the roof itself has been subjected to induced instability. The longer the battle runs the more of the floor will collapse. If the battle goes beyond fifteen minutes there will be an additional, deadly complication released into the water.”

The other one said, “Rain Guardians, please step forward so that your rings may be verified.”

As they did so the first one said, “Those of you watching will be kept behind infrared-triggered lasers. Please do not attempt to cross unless you wish to die. It will be in effect for the entirety of the battle.”

“The rings are verified and being worn around the neck as required,” said the second, then nodded at her counterpart. As one they jumped and landed atop the next roof up. “Wielders of Rain, Superbi Squalo versus Rain—begin!”

“What the fuck kind of trash name is Rain?” Squalo opened with, swinging his sword arm around.

Colonnello responded with an outpouring of flames that froze Squalo in his tracks with a layer of ice formed from the rain soaking the man, then launched himself forward, blades forming in each hand. One blade slammed down to cut off Squalo’s fake hand and was released. The other was sent in a precise strike against Squalo’s neck, which shattered the ice around his head. His left hand came up for a moment, and then he jumped back and released a second wave of flames to seal off the open wound.

Tsuna blinked. “Damn,” he muttered.

Colonnello held up the half Rain ring he had snatched.

The two Cervello dithered for a moment, then one said, “Uh, the winner of the Scramble Battle for the Rain ring is Rain, for Tsunayoshi Sawada. Tomorrow evening’s battle will be between the Lightning Guardians, starting at approximately midnight. Please arrive by eleven so we may all assemble and the battlefield can be explained.”

Reborn, wearing a set of Leon goggles, whispered, “The field is down. I suggest we get going.”

Daemon flashed up: i will distract that man. let’s go.

Tsuna immediately stepped forward and down, keeping near the edge of the riser, and headed for the door, his guardians and their “trainer” immediately following. Basil took a moment to get with the program, but they departed without issue and were soon enough back in the car.

“That was awesome,” Tsuna said the second Daemon gave the all clear. “You utterly wasted that guy.”

Colonnello just smiled. “I wonder how long it’ll take for his hand to be reattached.”

Daemon laughed creepily, but stayed quiet otherwise. They gathered in the kitchen once back at the house and had a round of hot chocolate, then broke up for the night. Or at least, it would appear that way to Basil. Once he was safely in bed they took over Tsuna’s secondary office for a meeting.

“Lussuria has done his best to heal Squalo’s arm,” Daemon reported, “but given where it was cut this time, his sword-hand prosthetic will have to be reworked before it can be reattached.”

“And he’ll probably have to retrain because of it,” Colonnello said.

Daemon nodded. “Presumably. Xanxus is angry, to put it mildly. His men are a bit stunned and wondering if they all inhaled a hallucinogenic of some kind. Xanxus has ordered them all to take this more seriously. They were irritated at not being able to spy on us directly, as you already know, but they assumed—and still do assume—that it’s not ‘Mist’ behind the block. They also assumed that it was done to make us look more skilled, or at least to hide our weaknesses.”

“Well, what have you seen regarding the field for my battle?” Romeo asked.

“The Cervello call it the Electric Circuit. It’s going to be placed atop the clock tower of the school. In essence, it’s a floor made out of a special conductive material, atop which is a web of conductive wires to disperse electricity from lightning hitting seven lightning rods on the field. The way it’s set up will magnify any strikes to several times the original potency.”

Romeo nodded and looked down. “Well, getting hit isn’t a problem. Not with electricity, anyway, not after the hell you guys put me through.”

Tsuna smiled innocently.

“Since it’s supposed to be a thunderstorm, with heavy rainfall, I expect Levi will deploy his parabolas and attempt to fry me. Though…” Romeo bit his lip. “He can use them like staffs, too. Okay, so, if he does the latter, I can slice through them with mine.”

Tsuna nodded. Romeo’s quarterstaff could have blades at the end, but also along the entire length. As the weapon was formed from his own flames, the sharp edges wouldn’t hurt him, and wouldn’t form under his grip, anyway.

“If it’s the former, I can do that telescoping trick of Sora’s to hook the things out of the air or slash right through them. And if he’s really stupid, I can try to attach a line of flame to him and redirect any lightning strikes on me to him.” Romeo shot a look at Daemon.

Daemon zoned out for a moment, then said, “They’re not discussing the upcoming battle. If they do, I will inform you immediately so the plan can be adjusted.”

“I appreciate it. Once his weapons are out of commission it’s down to martial arts on his end, unless he decides to bring back-up weapons or uses his flames directly.”

“You did test out holding a charge and dispersing it via touch,” Fon said.

“Or through your staff,” Skull added.

“You could try to throw him off by doing something … fumblish,” Tsuna suggested.

“Eh?”

“Like tripping over a wire or two before the battle starts,” he said. “Just a little misdirection. Or acting a bit vague. Something to make him down-shift after seeing Colonnello in action.”

Romeo nodded, then got an odd smile on his face. “Too bad I can’t do Force Lightning like Darth Sideous.”

Dino giggled, coughed, and tried for a more manly laugh. “So work on that next. Who knows? You might be able to manage it with enough effort.”

“Maybe. Okay. I’m tired, so, let’s all turn in,” Romeo said.

“Tonight’s Scramble Battle will be for the Lightning rings,” a Cervello stated. “Please proceed along the marked path to the arena we have prepared.” She gestured at a green ribbon, and then to one further along.

“Do they have this spiel memorized?” Skull whispered.

They ended up exactly where they expected to, atop the clock tower, and the space was far larger than it appeared from the ground. And it only took them half an hour to walk to it.

“Thank you for assembling. I will now explain the conditions for the Lightning Battle.”

Tsuna tuned her out and gazed out over the arena. It looked almost identical to the one in his memories. The sky overhead was boiling with clouds and flashes of light streaked through them as rain poured down. It was heavy enough that they were all wearing hooded raincoats. On the far side was the Varia, and all of them had flat expressions, though Xanxus was attempting to look bored.

He wondered if the chair the man always used was real or a construct, and if real, who was the poor bastard who had to haul it around so Xanxus could sit there, angled slightly, with one leg over the other, and his head propped against one hand. It was almost, though not quite as bad as, the indolent pose the jarls in Skyrim used.

“Lightning Guardians, please step forward so that your rings may be verified.”

He almost winced again when that man burst onto the scene and hastened over to their viewing area, but he knew Daemon would keep him far enough away that it wouldn’t matter. ‘Blah blah blah, stay behind the lasers of death.’ He turned toward Reborn, who was perched on Dino’s shoulder, and whispered in his ear, “Is this stupid cage thing even closed in at the top?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Reborn whispered back without moving his lips.

“The rings are verified and being worn around the neck as required,” a Cervello said, then jumped back along with her counterpart. “Wielders of Lightning, Levi-a-than versus Lightning—begin!”

Romeo removed his rain coat and hung it off a handy protrusion, stepped forward and up onto the arena floor, and promptly tripped over one of the wires. He sighed mournfully, stared up at the raging sky, and pulled a small, dark green stick from his pocket. No one had to know it was actually crafted from flames. He started forward again, extending the stick into something much longer, which made no logical sense, then shook it slightly, causing him to trip again. The sides sprung out into an umbrella shape, which he held over his head.

Levi sent a withering stare at Romeo and reached back to free two of the parabolas from the harness he wore.

“The weather is a bit touchy today,” Romeo stated, eyeing the sky dubiously, then looked down as lightning struck one of the towers and sent electricity crackling along the wire web.

“Oh my God, I’m fighting an idiot,” Levi complained.

What Levi did not see was the thin line of dark green Lightning Flame stretching from the tail end of Romeo’s “umbrella” to snake along the “floor” and wind around his leg. The crackle of electricity and the severity of the rain hid it from most eyes.

“What are you complaining about~!” Lussuria caroled. “Take the trash out! But stay away from his face. I want him for my collection!”

“I hope this doesn’t hurt my garden too badly,” Romeo mused just loudly enough to be heard over the storm. “Too much water is bad for my plants.”

Xanxus released a spike of killing intent, which saw Levi rapidly throwing the two parabolas he was holding into the air, followed by the others.

Romeo looked back toward Tsuna. “Do you think they’ll be okay?” he asked as lightning flashed down with an ear-splitting crack and hit the parabola array.

“You’re done for, fool.”

The power gathered, magnified, and shot toward Romeo in an eye-searing burst of light. When it faded Levi was flat on his back. Romeo released the “umbrella” and strolled on over, making a show of avoiding the wires, then crouched down to remove the chain holding the ring from around the man’s neck. As he stood back up he said, “He doesn’t seem to have a pulse. I think his heart’s been stopped. But if it’s restarted within the next four to six minutes, he should recover. Assuming he’s not in a coma, brain dead, paralyzed, um…” He shrugged and walked a short distance away.

The Cervello dithered again for almost a full minute before one of them jumped down to verify Romeo’s claim. “The winner of the Scramble Battle for the Lightning ring is Lightning, for Tsunayoshi Sawada. Tomorrow evening’s battle will be between the Mist Guardians, starting at approximately midnight. Please arrive by eleven so we may all assemble and the battlefield can be explained.”

Reborn, wearing his Leon goggles again, tapped Tsuna on the shoulder and they all moved out. He could hear Lussuria twittering in the background. They were quickly enough in the car and driving away, Iemitsu once again left behind in something of a confused pother.

Tsuna eyed his Lightning with amusement.

“I took what you said to heart and decided to open with something a bit unorthodox,” Romeo said. “I figured I could always fall back to the original ideas if necessary. Shockingly—” He grinned unrepentantly. “—it worked.”

He giggled madly and nodded. “I am very impressed. You made it look almost like it was a purely coincidental win.”

“All perfectly legal,” Romeo said happily.

“Your tactics were masterful,” Basil said, “even if I’m not entirely sure what you did.”

Romeo turned a smile on the Rain. “I threaded a line of my own flames from my umbrella to Levi and let it carry the charge from his attack on me back to him.”

It was more hot chocolate once they got home, warm showers, and bed.

“Tonight’s Scramble Battle will be for the Mist rings,” a Cervello stated. “Please proceed along the marked path to the arena we have prepared.” She gestured at an indigo ribbon, and then to one further along.

“It’s almost like Groundhog Day, but without the same level of comedy,” Skull whispered.

Tsuna snickered and wrapped an arm around his Cloud’s shoulders in a manly sort of hug as they proceeded along the marked path. They ended up in the school’s gymnasium. Daemon had promised before they left the house that none of them would get caught up in any illusions, as he would personally be protecting them. The most they would see would be watery, transparent versions. Given that Tsuna still remembered just how ill he had felt the first time around after getting ensnared, that guarantee was more than welcome.

He tuned out the explanation of the field and stared at a point shy of the Varia’s location, but in such a way that he could observe them. Xanxus was on his throne again, jarl-like pose a given, and was having a harder time affecting a bored demeanor than the night previous. Gola Mosca was there as a looming presence, with Mammon perched on his upturned hand. It made Tsuna wonder just how aware the Vongola Nono was in there as to events happening around him, or if he was in a coma-like state in his role as a battery.

If he remembered to, he would have to ask his friends.

“Mist Guardians, please step forward so that your rings may be verified.”

‘Lasers, blah blah blah. All else failing I use my Earth Ring to launch us all upward and sideways, out of blast range. It’s not like we’re in a literal cage of explosives, just on a platform of them.’

“The rings are verified and being worn around the neck as required,” a Cervello said, then jumped back along with her counterpart. “Wielders of Mist, Esper Mammon versus Mist—begin!”

Daemon took a few steps forward before stopping.

Mammon stared up at the not so imposing figure of his opponent and floated up to match eye levels.

Daemon yawned, raising an elegant hand to cover it. "Were you planning to start at some point or shall I begin?"

Tsuna watched as tentacles burst out of Mammon’s hood and shot forward to wrap around his Mist. He also noticed, even if no one did, that the ring around Mammon’s neck vanished at the same time, and was replaced with an illusionary copy.

“Huh,” a different Daemon said from off to the side. “My opponent apparently has a tentacle porn fetish. More kinky than I expected. Are you by chance a fan of Lovecraft?”

The tentacles vanished and Mammon said, “Oh good. You’re not a complete weakling.”

Daemon laughed creepily, letting the sound echo around in the wonderful acoustics the gymnasium afforded. “Samsara is a wonderful thing.”

Mammon twitched.

“My turn, I believe,” Daemon said, then pointed negligently at nothing in particular.

Water flooded the area, which would make little sense to most people, but Tsuna knew exactly why Daemon had done it, again remembering a long ago battle. A waterspout erupted and headed toward the Arcobaleno.

It was swiftly countered with ice, which froze around Daemon’s form up to the waist. Mammon managed to give off a smug air as he floated with Fantasma’s assistance. “The art of illusion seizes control of the person’s perception—that is to say, it infiltrates the brain that governs their five senses. The stronger the illusionist’s abilities, the more complete the infiltration.

“The illusion’s rate of success is also heightened, and its hold over reality stronger. Thus, in the illusionist’s case, if their illusion is successfully countered with illusion, it means that control of their own perception will be completely snatched away. How is it? The abominable power of the Arcobaleno. No matter what you have in mind, it’s already too late, because you are already a denizen of my world of illusions.”

Daemon laughed again. “Thank you for giving the studio audience a seminar,” he said mockingly. “That was so very kind of you. There’s only one tiny little problem with that.”

“Oh?”

Fifty copies of Daemon appeared in the room, and every last one of them was holding a chain with a half ring dangling from it. “You’ve been trapped in my illusion the entire time.”

Mammon snorted. “Don’t be a fool,” he said, and reached up to his neck, then paused. The chain was gone, and with it the ring.

The army of Daemons grinned. “As I said, samsara is a wonderful thing. You are but an infant compared to me,” they spoke in unison. “Oh, I had not intended to make a pun. You have my apologies for that.”

Tsuna spotted yet another Daemon, one that popped up like a cardboard cutout next to the Cervello, one who held a completed Vongola Mist ring. “I believe this is sufficient proof?” he said.

After a quick examination a Cervello said, “The winner of the Scramble Battle for the Mist ring is Mist, for Tsunayoshi Sawada. Tomorrow evening’s battle will be between the Cloud Guardians, starting at approximately midnight. Please arrive by eleven so we may all assemble and the battlefield can be explained.”

The usual meeting was held after hot chocolate and Basil went to bed.

Tsuna finally broke into giggles.

“You seem to have picked up a bad pun habit from Sora,” Reborn said with a playful glare. “But using Viper’s belief that we live the same lives endlessly against him was a nice touch.”

“Yes, well, they are having fits over there,” Daemon said. “I think Viper may be going through an existential crisis as we speak. But, on the bright side, since Cloud is next, we can end this farce of a competition. I’m keeping a very close watch on Gola Mosca and will make the switch, and henge Byakuran’s offering.”

Tsuna cracked up again. “You did it before I did!” he crowed.

Daemon’s brow furrowed. “What?”

“You used a term from Naruto before I did. I keep wanting to call our flames chakra, but I always catch myself in time.”

“Oh…” Daemon looked almost embarrassed. “ _Anyway_ … Skull can do whatever he needs to do without fear of anyone important dying. And I can steal the other half rings while that’s happening.”

“Once we expose his treachery, he’ll call in his other troops,” Fon said, looking at Dino.

“I’ll have my people ready, and Byakuran’s will be, too.”

“At least for this battle we won’t be inside those cages,” Tsuna said.

“No, I’ll be the one inside a cage,” Skull said poutily.

“Is that really any different from when you did death-defying motorcycle stunts in a cage?” he shot back.

“I suppose not. It’ll be more roomy, in any case.”

“Tonight’s Scramble Battle will be for the Cloud rings,” a Cervello stated. “Please proceed along the marked path to the arena we have prepared.” She gestured at a purple ribbon, and then to one further along.

“Seriously, this is getting embarrassing,” Skull complained. His pocket started wiggling and he reached inside with one hand. The wiggling stopped.

They ended up at one of the athletic fields. It was ringed by barbed wire strung on posts, gatling guns, and the ground was adulterated with numerous mines, as confirmed by Daemon’s spies.

“Cloud Guardians, please step forward so that your rings may be verified.”

Tsuna gave Skull a warm squeeze and let go so his Cloud could meet with one of the Cervello. “This ought to be interesting,” he murmured as his other guardians formed up around him again. That man was twittering somewhere in the background, just another unimportant piece of scenery for the moment.

“The rings are verified and being worn around the neck as required,” a Cervello said, then jumped back along with her counterpart. “Wielders of Cloud, Gola Mosca versus Cloud—begin!”

Gola Mosca “exhaled” steam and raised an arm, then fired on the Cloud. Skull dodged and stomped his foot down as hard as he could. Shock waves pulsed out in every direction, and mines started going off like popcorn kernels in a chain reaction that tore up the entire field and even destroyed some of the fencing. Gatling guns hit the ground and went off, bullets flying everywhere in an uncoordinated mess that shredded entire plates of metal off Gola Mosca.

“Noooo, Bun-bun!” Skull cried as a rabbit popped out of his pocket. A split second later it brandished a switchblade in one paw, which opened with a snick, then multiplied beyond imagining and started a stampede.

Tsuna held on to Daemon and laughed himself silly, barely able to stand up on his own. The rest of his guardians were not faring much better, with only Reborn managing to hold it down to a smirk. Little puffs of Cloud Flame kept going off as the suicidal army of bunnies took down Gola Mosca and were destroyed in the process.

One enterprising bunny retrieved the necklace and darted back to Skull, and his Cloud combined that half ring with his own, completing it.

Naturally, it was then that Xanxus jumped up and pointed dramatically. “How could you!?” he cried. “My father was so supportive of me that he volunteered to fight on my side. And you’ve killed him!”

Skull bounded over and yanked the front of the machine open, then jumped back as a body fell out and rolled onto its back. “So your father, the Vongola Nono, is a young black man?”

Xanxus went still. “What the fuck?” He dashed forward and came to a stop next to the body. “Mammon, get your ass over here. You, too, Luss.”

Viper floated over quickly and stared intently at the man. “There was a weak illusion over him, but it’s gone now.”

Lussuria shook his head. “In my professional opinion, that is one sex~y corpse.” A quick spike of killing intent had him adding, “It’s not him, boss.”

“This doesn’t change anything!” Xanxus roared. “You’ll all die! All of you!” When a Cervello attempted to protest he backhanded her so hard she went flying and nearly cracked in half when she landed. “There won’t be any witnesses left to dispute me!”

Mammon shot an illusion into the sky as a signal at those words. “Nothing for it now. You’re all about to be overwhelmed.”

Tsuna snorted. “Interesting plan, trying to pin the blame on me for murdering the old man, all unknowing. There’s just a few problems with that.”

The sound of numerous footsteps began to be heard, getting closer.

“Oh? Tell me. Not like you’re going to live much longer, trash.”

“You really think Vongola would ever accept you as Decimo? The _adopted_ son?”

Xanxus roared again and his men all grouped up around him.

“The one who led a coup d’état against Vongola because an old man took you in as his son, and lied to you with a smile on his face?”

“Hey!” Iemitsu objected.

A man raced into the scene, gasping for breath and bleeding heavily, his sword dragging on the ground. “They’re all … dead.”

“See, I have friends,” Tsuna said with a warm smile.

Hundreds of Gesso and Cavallone men moved into view, stone-faced and ready to rumble some more.

“Friends who tell me things, find things out for me, and give me back-up when I need it,” he continued. “So I suggest that you go back to your little Varia clubhouse, and do your damn jobs instead of taking out your anger regarding Nono on someone innocent of the crime. But if you want to fight, I’d be more than happy to kill you and your men. Well, not the little guy, he’s actually important.

“Take your daddy issues and channel it all against the men you get to assassinate in the course of your job, Xanxus. Or would you like to be iced again?” he asked, brilliant orange flames exploding from him as he entered Hyper Dying Will Mode and moved his hands to the starting position for Zero Point Breakthrough.

“All right!” Xanxus growled. “You win this round, trash.”

Tsuna’s brow went up. “And I have all the half rings, anyway, even the one you held. Do your job—and that includes fucking up the day of anyone who goes after Vongola from the shadows—and you’ll get no trouble from me. I happen to think what the old man did was seriously warped, but don’t take it out on me, a person you only just recently met.”

After a long silence the remaining, unharmed Cervello said, “With this, the Scramble Battles have ended. All seven rings have been claimed. Therefore, the next successor to the Vongola is Tsunayoshi Sawada and his six guardians.”

“Great,” Tsuna said sarcastically.

Xanxus glared at the woman and huffed off, closely followed by his men. The crowd of back-up parted to let them pass, but watched carefully. The Cervello woman dithered a bit, then grabbed her compatriot and disappeared.

As soon as Daemon indicated it was safe Tsuna pulled in his flames and sighed.

Daemon flashed up: diverting the idiot. let’s go.

Tsuna nodded and started walking. In the confusion of leaving Dino and Romario removed their earrings and reappeared as themselves as Daemon smoothly replaced “Sun” and the “trainer” with constructs.

Once they got back to the house Dino said, “We’re going to go check in on the Vongola Nono. Basil, you coming?”

The poor kid was terribly confused, but he nodded.

“I’ll let Sawada know once we get there, so he can come as well and see with his own eyes that the Vongola Nono is safe and well.”

“Thanks, Dino-nii,” he said warmly and darted in for a hug.

“Any time, little brother.”

Once they were gone he rolled his eyes and examined the Vongola Sky ring. “Wonderful. Now we get to carry two parts of the Tri-ni-set. Daemon…”

“Yes,” Daemon said promptly, “I will be keeping a close eye on that bunch. We did, after all, make fools of them, and let out the big secret in front of hundreds of people.”

“Okay. I just want to go back to our real lives, at our real house, and our real jobs. Tsunayoshi Sawada can go back into obscurity until I absolutely have to dust him off again.”

“We can always get drop information to Basil so he can keep in contact,” Reborn suggested. “If he stays at CEDEF, it’s to our advantage to have him on your side, not that man’s. And he already has ‘Sebastian’s’ phone number.”

Skull nodded. “No reason not to use our resources strategically, and the kid’s not a bad sort. Besides, what are the odds he’ll want more training time with Tsuna? A handful of days was enough to whet his appetite for doing things the right way instead of taking shortcuts like that man fobbed off on him.”

“Bed?”

“Bed.”

A month after Tsuna’s sixteenth birthday (or thirty-sixth, depending on how he looked at it, or possibly forty-first) Reborn trundled into his office waving a letter with a Sky Flame seal at the top. ‘Because Xanxus couldn’t also do that,’ he thought snidely. “What’s the damage?”

“The Vongola Nono requests our presence up at his headquarters to discuss preparations for the formal ceremony to recognize you as Decimo.”

“Yay,” he said flatly. “Just another ‘holiday’ from the work I actually want to do.”

“Cheer up, Sora. After all, better this than when you actually take over for real. Then we all get to do twice the work for a good eight years.”

Ienari had been confirmed to have Sky Flames, thank Kami. They simply had to manage until he was old enough to become the Vongola Undicesimo. He sighed. “Okay. Let’s get packed up for a stay.”

A week later they were up north just outside Milan, all wearing their earrings except for Reborn, who as usual had his “Sun” persona covered by a construct faking Sun Flames.

During that initial meeting, when Timoteo had said something about Tsuna’s father, he had immediately said sharply, “I have no father.”

Nono was caught flat-footed in an open expression of surprise. “What?”

“I said, I have no father. What I had was a man who donated some sperm to the woman who gave birth to me, loved me, and raised me for five years before she was brutally tortured and murdered by Estraneo because someone couldn’t keep his mouth shut after bleating on about staying away for our protection.”

Nono pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded. “He and his people will be present to help with security during the ceremony.”

‘And that’s supposed to make me feel safe?’ he thought. “So long as he stays away from me,” he conceded.

“Some of the Varia will also be present.”

He shrugged. “From what I hear they have done and continue to do a ridiculously good job. They might not like me much, but I suppose it’s possible they respect me and my guardians. I’d like to think their pride would wither if they did anything less than their best during any protection detail.”

Nono nodded again, and thankfully did not add any commentary. “And of course, many allied famiglie will be invited to share this moment and get their first look at my successor.”

He hummed. “Maybe I can have Dino stand next to me the whole time and share in the torture,” he said dryly.

“Perhaps it would have been better for you to be raised here to begin with,” Nono muttered very softly.

“And perhaps you don’t want to go there,” he said sharply. “It was a miracle I was nowhere in the area during that attempt, but if I’d been here? Your sons were all killed, but even before that point they strutted around like kings because apparently nobody saw fit to make sure they understood suffering and humility and empathy. I probably would have died myself, not to mention end up being arrogant prior to that. Did any of your sons gain true guardians, or were they all just political matches? I only agreed to this because I know I have someone waiting in the wings to take over once he’s old enough. I wanted nothing to do with Vongola once I learned about the mafia, but I’m here, and I’ll do that duty, but—just don’t go there, all right?”

Nono heaved a torturous sigh. “I will make arrangements and have them forwarded to Reborn. We can make any necessary adjustments in plenty of time for the ceremony itself.”

He nodded. “Good day, Don Timoteo.”

“Kill me now,” he muttered.

Dino huffed a laugh and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I’m right here, little brother. But I don’t envy you all this pomp and pageantry. It’s bullshit is what it is. Just because Vongola is the most powerful famiglia doesn’t mean everyone should treat it like royalty.”

‘And the best part is he means that sincerely, and not out of some sense of jealousy,’ he thought. “Okay. Here I go.”

“I’ll be waiting once you’re down on the main floor.”

He smiled warmly at his friend and stepped out onto the stage, then suffered through the ceremony he considered stupid and pointless. He accepted the box holding the Vongola Sin—and if it was so damn important, why wasn’t a fake being used?—and promptly shoved it at Daemon the second he could. After that he was paraded around the ballroom by Nono and introduced to any number of people.

Only long experience allowed him to be gracious, charming, and still show hints of ruthlessness. Eventually, Dino was able to rescue him and he took over a table with his brother and their guardians to finally have something to eat. Naturally, every last bit of food and drink was pulsed before consumption, and everyone at the table was disappointed that none of it tasted good enough.

He was thrilled beyond words once they were in a car and on their way home, despite it being such a long ride, because they could take off the earrings and be their normal sizes again, and not have to deal with that maddening itch and sense of wrongness, like wearing a suit made of someone else’s skin.

When he was eighteen he was bidden to move into Vongola HQ so he could commence learning how to run the Family. Reborn had every piece of technology they owned so heavily encrypted and protected that even the paranoia of the Vongola couldn’t get through it to sniff out any of their secrets. Daemon kept people away from their wing, those who weren’t invited, and that absolutely included the servants. They kept on doing their own cleaning and cooking.

Tsuna took to the lessons like a fish to water; after all, he had been the Vongola Decimo before. Nono was stupidly impressed by it all, but waited until his health failed that much more and Tsuna turned twenty to officially hand over the reins. Nono then retired off to some hidden place somewhere with his guardians. Tsuna wondered at times just how much friction there really was between that group, for the crime of having let their Sky be kidnapped and used a battery.

The very first thing he did was call Sawada to his fancy office.

“My little tuna fish!”

He rolled his eyes openly. “You’re fired.”

“…What? No. Stop joking around, Tsu-kun. This isn’t a very good joke.”

His blood felt like it turned to ice. “You’re fired,” he repeated. “There is no way on Earth I can have an External Advisor I neither know nor trust. So pack up your things at CEDEF, because I already have someone lined up to take your place.”

“You can’t do this,” Sawada breathed.

“I’m the boss, remember? You can retire and spend some time with those sons of yours. After all, Ienari is going to be Undicesimo, and he’ll need to be trained up. Though I suppose if you preferred, he can come here and I’ll do it myself. Oh, and send Basil to me. There are some things I need to talk to him about regarding his new boss.”

“You—you can’t do this,” Sawada whispered.

“I think you’ll find that I can.” He was coming perilously close to venting years of bitterness and rage, so he was relieved when Daemon hastened that man out and on his way. “Thank you,” he said as he sat back. Unlike Nono, who was at least savvy enough to admit (even if only in his own mind) that he was at fault in some way, he knew that man would never own up to his failings, and would keep pushing, and pushing, until Tsuna did something stupid like ripping him into atoms with his Earth ring.

Hayato popped out from behind an illusion and shook his head. “Man, he doesn’t follow orders too well, does he.”

“In my eyes he’s been delusional for the better part of his life,” he replied. “He couldn’t even refer to me with a modicum of respect. When Basil does get here he can overnight, and then he can get you started. Lal should also be a great help, but as you know, she’s pretty strict and can seem a bit cold and unfeeling. Do your best.”

Hayato nodded. “Always have.”

“Including sliding down my hallways?”

Hayato laughed. “Nah. You always caught me, one way or the other.”

He smirked. “I like to think we’ve trained you damn well, so you should be more than fine for this job. And—” He looked at the Storm seriously. “—when I’ve stepped down, if you want to do the same, I’ll always have a home for you as one of my agents.”

Hayato looked almost bashfully pleased as he nodded. “I will keep that in mind. For now, I’m going to check over my things to make sure I’ve not forgotten anything.”

“Okay. See you for dinner.”

“All right!” Hayato said enthusiastically, then departed.

He removed the “Tsuna” earring and replaced it with the “Welkin” earring, then slumped in his chair, relief spreading through his body. His guardians had removed theirs and were perching wherever they felt comfortable. “We’re home!” he yelled and slammed his hands down on the surface of his desk.

Footsteps came racing down the hallway and Fūta, I-Pin, and Lambo whooshed into the room, going to Tsuna, Fon, and Romeo respectively. “Oh my God, we’re gonna get real food again,” Fūta gushed as he snatched him up into a hug.

“Is that all you care about, gaki?” he playfully complained.

“I am too old to be considered a brat, Sora,” Fūta shot back. “I’m really glad you guys are back, though. It’s been way too quiet here for too long.”

“I know,” he said with a sigh. Dino had happily hosted the three kids while they were stuck heading Vongola. When Fūta turned eighteen had had opted to move back to the manor, bringing the two younger kids with him, and continued running jobs from there. Tsuna suspected they had eaten a lot of take-out.

“And the dust!”

He snorted; because that was so terribly important. “Well, how about we go shopping. Plenty of supplies to be laid in.”

Life settled back to normal by his standards, especially with the weight of that damn title off his shoulders, plus the disguise. His own house, his family—and for all he knew, Hayato and Basil would be barreling in through the front door at some point.

Sadly, despite that man actually dumping Ienari off with Tsuna and making a snide comment about parenting skills—Tsuna almost hurt himself holding back his reaction to that—some of the progress he made with his half-brother was eroded whenever the kid spent time with Iemitsu. ‘Not my problem any longer,’ he thought. ‘And if the idiot wants to reinstate that man as External Advisor, well…’

Several weeks later he woke up from having the strangest dream. Verde’s decoy puppets were dancing around in a circle and passing a dark ball around with ever increasing speed. The puppets themselves had open chests, showing off what looked like a glass container of flames inside, one for each of the Flames of the Sky. He passed it off as having eaten a bad shrimp or something, but it happened again several nights later, and then several more. 

Reborn finally pinned him with a look that all but demanded he share his thoughts. “I just stole an entire pepper and you didn’t even notice. Spill.”

“Oh, uh… It’s just a weird dream I’ve had a few times.”

“The same dream?”

“Yeah.” He went back to slicing vegetables.

“Okay. Describe it for me.” After he did Reborn looked thoughtful. “That can’t exactly be chalked up to intuition, but you’ve never particularly shown strong signs of prescience, either. That’s more of a Giglio Nero thing. Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something? I can’t for the life of me imagine what, though.”

A week later Byakuran dropped by. “I saw something,” he said. “Sideways.”

“Okay,” he said slowly.

“About Arcobaleno.”

‘Well now,’ he thought. “What about?”

“You know I can’t see very well, but this was like someone in another dimension was trying to push the knowledge around.”

He and all his Arcobaleno guardians leaned in curiously. Had they been alone he would have asked directly, but as it was…

“I think,” Byakuran said slowly, “I may know of a way to break the curse.”

“What!?” Skull yelped.

“Does it involve some kind of flame containers and a circle?”

Byakuran’s eyes lit up. “Tsu-kun! Where did that come from?”

“Dreams I’ve been having lately,” he replied, wondering if some other Byakuran had tried pushing the knowledge to Tsuna first, and then tried again with alternate versions of himself. Or hell, maybe in some other dimension he was actually a Gesso and the destined holder of the Mare Sky ring and Byakuran was a Vongola. It could happen, right?

“We need to talk to Talbot and…”

“And?”

“Bermuda.”

“Huh?”

“Bermuda is one of the Vindice. From what I saw, he looked like you guys.”

“What the hell?” Colonnello said. “A Vindice Arcobaleno? Since when?”

“More to the point, why them?” Tsuna asked. “I can maybe understand Talbot. He’s a genius and he’s seemingly been around since Giotto’s time, or even before that.”

“And yet not as well preserved as Keith Richards,” Romeo muttered.

Tsuna blew a flat raspberry at his Lightning, then stared at his white-haired menace of a friend.

“It’s kind of a confused welter of images and impressions,” Byakuran said a bit defensively. “What I got out of it was this: Talbot can make whatever these containers are, and Bermuda and the Vindice use their weird flames to… It goes in a circle. You ever seen a Vindice show up to haul someone off to Vendicare?”

Reborn nodded, as did Colonnello. “Yeah, they use warp holes or portals.”

Tsuna looked at Daemon. He knew just how destructive those things could be, but the Vindice obviously had much finer control over them. Either way, they were incredibly powerful.

Daemon shrugged slightly, his brow furrowed in thought.

“You think maybe these container things would hold flames like a pacifier would?” Skull asked.

“Maybe we should take a trip to go see Aria,” Reborn suggested. “Her ability with prescience might give us some clues here.”

Byakuran gave a half shrug, half nod, so Tsuna said, “Please get in touch with her and set up a meeting, Reborn.”

A week later Aria and Gamma were serving tea to Tsuna, Reborn, Daemon, and Byakuran. The second she saw Tsuna she seemed torn between pleasure and regret. “So you’re Welkin.”

He smiled warmly, appreciating the fact that she had not pointed out that he essentially stole the role she had expected to play and thereby saved her from being chibified. Once the introductions were out of the way, and tea and nibbles were served, Tsuna explained about his dreams, Byakuran about his sideways knowledge, and Reborn about Skull’s leap of logic. Daemon sat there and looked pretty, but as he was cuddling Tsuna on his lap, that was perfectly fine.

Aria, though not struck with any weighty thoughts just then, promised to give the matter due consideration—even she was prone to lapsing into doe-eyed moments when Reborn smiled in that way of his—and would immediately let them know if anything jogged loose in her brain.

That being said, Tsuna gifted her with a huge box of sweets, and incidentally won over another lifelong admirer. Reborn seemed terribly smug on the way home for some reason. He suspected it had something to do with his Sky winning over so many other Skies, though Aria was pre-primed given her “Uncle” Reborn’s connection.

Instead of going straight home Tsuna swapped to his “Tsuna” disguise and paid a visit to Talbot, to ask him about containers and flames and dodging questions about why he was so interested in such things. If nothing else, having been the Vongola Decimo got his foot in the door with the ancient fellow. Before he left he made vague noises about having asked for a friend who may or may not want to contact Talbot later, and then they went home and got back to work. He ignored the fact that Talbot had given him a knowing look somehow, despite being blindfolded.

He did think to send a message to Byakuran asking if he could in any way reverse the connection to whoever had sent the message and ask for more details. He held very little hope for that to happen considering how many potential alternates there might be, but there was no harm in asking, he supposed.

Aria sent a letter to Reborn essentially stating that either she or her daughter Yuni would need to be present at some point, or both of them. She just had a feeling they’d be needed for some kind of confrontation. Byakuran reported that all he could still see was flame containers, in a circle, with Vindice hovering over it all and passing a dark ball around.

“Maybe the ball of whatever goes through the containers?” he mused. “And has some kind of effect on them?”

“The Vindice seem to have their own kind of flame,” Daemon said. “Mist Flames might be able to replicate some of what they do, but…”

“And whatever it is is capable of warp—” Skull broke off. “Which is another way of saying speed, but really, it’s also an exercise in energy conservation by opening a portal between two points, which could be twisted to say it’s a way of creating energy…”

Everyone stared at the Cloud in disbelief.

“What!? I like science fiction,” Skull protested, “and I had to know a lot for those stunts I used to do, stuff like physics and whatever.”

“Okay, okay,” he said, taking he heat off his Cloud. “What do we even know about these stupid pacifiers? We’re small for a reason, yes? I don’t remember seeing anything at that memorial, unfortunately.”

“The accepted theory is that we’re small in order to compress our flames,” Fon said, “and thereby allow that greater density to feed the pacifiers more efficiently. Why they even exist in the first place is something else entirely.”

“But at a guess?”

“Supernatural powers exist for a reason,” Colonnello said, “even if that reason is happenstance.”

“Well,” Daemon said, “I happen to have some odd habits, not to mention choices in reading. Going by some of the theories I’ve seen regarding something like magic—take it from Tolkien or wherever you like—there is usually some kind of higher power involved. Imagine that nature itself gives off a type of energy. After all, we create energy every day, as do plants and animals, simply by converting available resources.”

Reborn shot a dubious look at Daemon, but nodded faintly. “So we could be like batteries or converters for Flames of the Sky overall? Like photosynthesis or something?”

“Keeping conservation of energy in mind,” Colonnello said, “conversion might make more sense. And taking conservation of mass into account…”

“We went from engines running on petrol to fusion reactors?” he offered.

“Something like that? Maybe?” Colonnello replied.

“Then if those special flames really are involved in some kind of a solution they must be capable of substituting for part of whatever function we serve,” Reborn added. “But for the Vindice to help with this…”

“C’mon now,” Skull said. “One of them is like us. Why? What happens to us when…”

Reborn’s face went so cold it was terrifying. “I always expected to die a dog’s death, but that would be … unacceptable. We need to find out if Talbot can make the containers, if the Vindice are willing to test the theory, and then—”

There was a collective shudder amongst Reborn, Colonnello, Skull, and Fon.

“And have Aria, Yuni, or both present for some vague, unspecified reason,” he ended with.

“Right. And drag Viper and Verde into things.”

Tsuna snorted, mostly over Verde. Still, they would likely all need to be present for any of it to have a snowball’s chance in hell of working. Another message was sent off to Talbot (in Tsuna’s name) and a meeting arranged.

They went that time as themselves, though Romeo stayed behind to ride herd on the three youngest of their crew and deal with the paperwork. Talbot, with a fashionable green blindfold on, had greeted their complement (Daemon was in chibi form for the hell of it, and floating) and raved over the box of sweets Sora had presented.

“Do you, by chance, use flames as a kind of sonar?” he asked at one point, seeing how the ancient man unerringly navigated the world.

“Perhaps. Now, as to this theory you have presented me with. I believe that yes, I could fashion the flame containers, the, ah, apparatus. One for each flame, I think… Inside a larger container. You said the darkness circled around, through them. The wielder of the Flame of Night can—”

“Wait, what?” Colonnello asked.

“When you get to be my age you tend to forget the minor details,” Talbot joked. “Like names. That short fellow in the Vindice.”

“Bermuda,” Reborn supplied.

“Yes, that short fellow,” Talbot said. “Perhaps he was born with some form of dwarfism.”

‘Now I know he’s just fucking with us,’ he thought, his mouth quirking into a half smile.

“The purple short one had a good thought going,” Talbot continued. “The Flame of Night has an interesting property to it, in some ways like Cloud Flames, in some ways even like Sun Flames.”

‘Propagation and activation, huh? Maybe those qualities are what could conceivably be our fusion reactor.’

“The trick is in getting the short fellow to agree.”

Colonnello rolled his eyes expressively.

“Will you create the containers?” he asked.

“Yes, yes, how could I possibly say no to such an interesting challenge—or such delicious sweets as you have provided.”

‘Right, open invitation for bribery of the sweetest kind.’ He nodded to himself. “Thank you. If you would be so kind as to get in touch with Reborn when you have them ready?”

“Of course.”

A month or so later (and after plenty of care packages sent Talbot’s way, one per week, and with perhaps the result of the old man padding up with a few pounds to cushion those ancient bones) Reborn got a message through the usual series of drops that they were ready, plus one extra to be used for demonstration purposes. Or as the old man’s note said, “In case the short fellow gets upset and smashes it, you’ll still have the real ones.”

“Time for an Arcobaleno meeting then,” he said. “I think it’d make more of a showing if all of us were in agreement and willing to present the idea.”

“Where do you want to meet?” Reborn asked. “Someplace neutral? Rome?”

“Uh… Yeah. Find a place, then I’ll prepare messages for Mammon, Verde, and Lal.”

Verde was not pleased to see them all again, but he showed up. He had been surprisingly quiet over the years, and Daemon’s spies had shown the green-haired man had become meticulous in researching any contracts he deigned to consider before accepting them. Naturally, he was the one to open the meeting with a somewhat belligerent, “What is it this time?”

Tsuna finished plating the last meal from the food he had brought and slid it over to Verde. “We may have a way to break the curse,” he said, then bit into his sandwich.

Viper went white—or whiter than usual—the markings on his cheeks standing out in sharp relief. “What?” he whispered.

Tsuna nodded as he swallowed. “Dreams I’ve been having, some help from someone who can peer sideways into other dimensions, a little talk with a few other people. We think it’s possible, and that no one else would ever have to be cursed like this again.”

“How?” Verde said sharply, suddenly all business.

“Talbot of the Vongola has created new containers to replace the pacifiers, but we will need the help of the Vindice.” As expected, that caused a bit of apprehension.

“Why are you four unsurprised?” Viper asked, staring in turn at Tsuna’s guardians.

“These four helped me figure parts of it out,” Tsuna said blandly. “Skull was especially insightful.”

Verde scoffed, but Tsuna fixed him with a look that promised unending torment and caused him to retreat into his food.

“Why the Vindice?” Viper asked, then took a sip of strawberry milk Tsuna had made specifically for the Mist.

“Because of their special flames, an eighth flame, the one they use to warp around and apprehend people. The source is Bermuda, and he’s like us. The implications are enough to make anyone ill.”

Viper’s hand mottled white and red from squeezing the milk container too hard. “And you want a show of solidarity.”

“Preferably. After all, if this works, we all benefit. It’s an interesting experiment that’s also a sound investment of our time.”

Viper’s mouth quirked into the faintest hint of a smile before disappearing into another sip of milk.

“I have one sample container I plan to show Bermuda, to get the concept across.”

“And if they do agree?” Lal asked, finally saying something.

“Then we have to—” He frowned.

“We have to find a way to contact Checker Face,” Reborn said flatly.

“Considering how long it’s been, we may not have to,” Verde said quietly.

“Perhaps. But I’d like to be proactive,” he said. “Are you with me on this?”

“Yes,” was out of Viper’s mouth instantly.

Lal nodded after a moment; she looked skeptical, yet hopeful. Verde nodded, an abstracted look on his face.

“Then let’s decide on a time to meet to speak with Bermuda.”

Tsuna had never, in either life, gone to Vendicare. Visited in a messed up mind meld with Mukuro? Sure. But not physically. He decided to take a calculated risk and have the actual meeting behind his manor. Byakuran was there with a handful of his people; Dino and his guardians; Aria and her guardians; and Yuni.

Fūta, Lambo, and I-Pin were all out on jobs. Daemon was wearing the face of the guy who ran the corner grocery. Romeo was himself. All told, there were around twenty-five people present on the deck. Daemon had sent a set of constructs to Vendicare. If necessary, he would use his ability to warp as the Vindice did, even though it might well piss them off.

Tsuna had spent a while cooking and had a buffet of food waiting for his many guests; they all happily indulged before the main event. Daemon finally nodded at him and said, “They’ve arrived and are entering now.”

He sipped his chocolate milk—Viper had made a moue of distaste on seeing it—and listened to Daemon’s low-voiced reports.

“Oh,” Daemon suddenly said, sounding surprised. “They’re coming.”

Tsuna nodded just as a portal opened up on the lawn and Jager stepped through, with Bermuda on his shoulder. Tsuna hopped on Daemon’s shoulder and went to meet with the Vindice.

“What nonsense is this?” Bermuda demanded.

“Before we get into that, do you guys eat?” Tsuna asked seriously, and heard Reborn groan in the background. “I’ve always wondered.”

“…”

“I’ll take that as a maybe,” he said. “We’ll have to talk about it some more later on. As for why we wished to speak with you, that’s simple. There’s something we want, very much, and we think you would be the other half of the answer.”

Bermuda seemed to stare at Daemon for a moment, then refocused on Tsuna. “An answer to the Curse of the Arcobaleno.”

“Yep,” he replied as Daemon produced the extra container and set it atop a pedestal be constructed. “This is an example of what may very well work. It would contain the same flames a pacifier would, but not need to leech off a living being. However, as it could obviously not feed the flame on its own, this is where you would come in. In theory.”

Jager moved closer.

“It’s been theorized that the properties of your Night Flame and the warp capabilities could become the fuel, so to speak. Eight portals inside, around the flame, one container for each of the Flames of the Sky. The downside is that it would mean—”

“Yes, I see that,” Bermuda interrupted crisply. “But it would be worth it to wrest control away from that man.”

“Oh.” He had not been expecting such speedy agreement. He’d expected he would need to use charm and possibly bribes of food. “Well, I suppose it would make sense that you’re not exactly his biggest fan.”

Bermuda gave him a look before eyeing the crowd on the deck.

“They’re all here in the event that my weird luck kicks in and we have this taken care of today,” he replied to the unasked question. “We figured that priming these things would take a fair number of people with good flame purity and a handful of Skies to make sure everything plays nicely together. And besides, I bribed them with my cooking. That usually works.” He got the distinct impression that Bermuda was arching a brow his way, so he shrugged.

“I think it will work,” Bermuda said finally. “But in order to free the current Arcobaleno we must summon Checker Face.”

Tsuna gestured and the Arcobaleno, plus Lal, formed up nearby. “I have no real idea how to do that, but I’m just going to wing it like everything else and try to reach him through my pacifier.”

Bermuda nodded.

Tsuna reached up to hold his pacifier and concentrated, entreating Checker Face to respond. A quick illusion from Daemon showed that the Arcobaleno were doing the same.

Checker Face stepped out of nothingness between one heartbeat and the next. He was a snappy dresser, but nothing on Reborn.

“Thank you for coming,” he said as Aria and Yuni stepped up to either side of him. “We wish to present a solution to the Curse of the Arcobaleno.”

Half an hour later it was done and Checker Face had disappeared, and Bermuda had vanished through a portal with Jager and the apparatus. Tsuna looked down at his still tiny body and sighed through his nose. On the bright side, he no longer had a pacifier chained around his neck, and he was fairly certain he could still use his flames without a ring.

“So,” Daemon murmured in his ear, “just imagine the fun we could have when you’re old enough.”

His face heated up and Daemon started laughing. A look around showed that out of all of them, only Lal Mirch had regained adult form, but that made a certain kind of sense given that she had only been clipped by the curse due to Colonnello’s actions. Still, it did not exactly bode well for the man’s love life.

Viper chose that moment to float over and fix him with what he believed was an accusing stare. “Did you help that Vongola child back in the day?”

“Eh?”

“The one Reborn tutored.”

“How much are you willing to pay for the information?” he asked, knowing it would frustrate the Mist.

Viper’s mouth twisted. “Touché. Got any more of that strawberry milk?”

“Of course,” he replied. “I made up a whole batch just for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My personally-formatted copies are available at: [.azw3](http://ff.grazhir.com/welkin/Welkin%20-%20Shivani.azw3) and [.epub](http://ff.grazhir.com/welkin/Welkin%20-%20Shivani.epub).
> 
> Also, Shadowblayze wrote a gift fic! [Tsuna’s Luck](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6413653)


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